The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-22
Seniors at the Tech
Vote to Omit 1t.
TROUBLE BREWING.
Indifference Of the Faculty
Resented.

There is a hot time coming at the
Tech.
The feeling of enmity that has lnog
existed on the part OF the student body
towards the faculty of The institute has
at last come to head, and the troubles
that have been brewing for years are to
be made public through the action of
one of the classes taken yesterday.
For years it has been an open secret
among all who are acquainted with the
institute, that the relations between
the student body and the faculty are
not what they ought 10 be, and are
far from being what they are in other
institutions of learning. The friends
OF the Institute have long bemoaned
the fact that there exists among the
students no college spirit ~ is found
in other collegec ana universities, and
all sorts of reasons have been advanc-
ed to account for this fact. But those
on the inside know and have always
known, that the feeling that has ex-
listed for years at the Tech, is the result
OF what is considered d policy of in
tolerance and lack of sympathy with
the feelings and customs of college men
on the part of the faculty Of the in
stitute.
The students long since abandoned
any hope of arousing this spirit III the
institute, owing to fife attitude of the
majority of the members of the facul-
ty, and their plainly manifest DISPOSE
ton to abridge the rights and debase
the self-respect of the students by. a
policy of treatment which the students
feel is more fitting for a penal institd-
ton than an American college
This feeling came to a sudden and
unexpected climax yesterday noon,
when the meeting of the senior class
of the institute was held for the pur-
pose of electing officers for class day
exercises, which take place i'm June,
during commencement week. The meet
ing was called for the election of Off
GERS, but it resulted in the abolition Of
the offices themselves. In short,
the class voted without a dissenting
voice, to omit class cay exercises COM
pletely.
The reason brought out for this ac-
ton, was the feeling hat tie class did
not care to have any exercises not ac-
tually required of It's members. The
statement was made by many members
of the class during the meeting, that
they did not care to have exercises of
this kind which were entirely lacking
in the essential spirit Of the day. as it
appears in other colleges, due TO the
Indifference and lack of sympathy
manifested by the faculty.
The members of the class said dur
ing the discussion of the proposition
that for the last few years, especially
since the present head of the institute
took charge, the attitude of the faculty
has become more and more objection
able in this respect. For the past three
years there has been no representation
of the faculty at the class day eNer-
cises, although the members of the
faculty and the corps of instruction
have always been most cordially in
vited by the graduating classes. Last
year at the class day exercises, there
was not single member of the faculty
present and only one member of the
corps of instruction. The members of
the families of the professors likewise
were conspicuous by their absence.
In view of this attitude, the class of
1899 does not care to expend the large
amount Of money that the usual cele-
bration of class day entails. In other
colleges, the students say, the MEM
bers of the faculty manifest their in
terest in the students by taking a dig
nifled part in college matters outside
the class room, but at the Tech the
members of the faculty seem to regard
the students as merely the portions of
the machinery by which their daily
bread is won and treat them accord
ingly. They manifest no disposition to
encourage feelings of college loyalty
and to this is due the action of the
class of 1899 in voting to omit class
day exercises.
The action of the class in abolshing
for this year at least an institution
that has since the earliest days of the
institute been the most prominent fea-
ture of commencement week, shows
how strong this spirit of opposition to
the faculty has become. Glass day ex-
ercises usually occur on the day pre-
Vious to the formal commencement ex-
ercises at which degrees are awarded
to the graduates by the president of the
institute They have always been held
on a platform built on the campus at
the expense of the class. The spot
chosen in former years has been on the
hillside facing Boynton street under
the spreading trees that cover the
sharp incline below Boynton Hall
Here, in most beautiful location,
the platform is built, seats are ar
arranged beneath the shade for the in
Vited guests, the class colors are fes-
TONED everywhere in handsome and
Kaleidoscope effects, a band Is in at
tendance, and on the appointed after
noon the young men Of the graduating
class assemble to bid their formal fare
we'll to their alma mater, in the pres
ence of their admiring friends and rela-
tiVes
The class officers and the orators
chosen for such occasions make their
carefully prepared addresses, the class
poem is read, the prophecy pronounced,
the class goes in a body to plant the
class tree and the whole afternoon is
given up to exercises that are among
the most interesting and dear to q col
lege man.
This year however the band viii not
play and the youthful orators will not
launch their glowing periods at the
heads Of their admiring friends and
relatives. Tech campus may never
again be the scene Of class day eXer-
cises, for precedentof this kind is easily
established when there is ground for II.
and the lower classes a the Tech are
understood to be heartily in sympathy
with the action taken by the seniors
The spirit Of the class viii be most
unpleasant revelation to the members
of the faculty, and there Is no doubt
that today the professors Will try TO
bring about change in the action of
the class by more or less direct means.
It Is thought the abolition Of the ex-
ercises win have an effect on the ma
terlal welfare Of the institute. For sew
eral years 1t has been an open secret
that the membership Of the freshman