Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-19
The Suspended Howard University
Students.

To the Editor of The Evening Star:
Kindly grant me space to make a brief
statement Of the cases of the two students
suspended from Howard University. The
head and front of their offending is what?
That with forty-four other students they
signed a petition to the executive commit
tee Of the board of trustees asking for bet
ter food and better treatment at the board
ing hall. After five weeks had passed
without any amelioration of the conditions
they addressed another letter to the trus-
tees, and with the Impotence and want Of
experience of very young people they
named a certain day after which, they said,
if things were not bettered they would
leave the hall. This the authorities chose
to regard a threat" Somebody had to
be punished They could not very well
empty the hall by turning out forty-six, so
they had to find a scapegoat, and the choice
fell on these two The first, Mr.. Dixon, a
young Texan, twenty years old, without
parents and sef-supporting, was one of the
brightest pupils in the preparatory depart
ment, having. in TRUTH but one rival in his
class. He has worked earnestly and faith
fully during four years and was within
three months of graduation. He holds a
letter from the dean of his department
Prof. Cummings, containing these words:
mo charge Is preferred in any way i'm
peaching your character" etc. The acting
president wrote to Mr.. Dixons congress-
he had treated him sin the kindest man
'ner possible" The "kindest manner pos
sibie" consisted in giving him five minutes
to sign an abject, prepared apology under
pain of expulsion. He refused to sign
statement that he had behaved in an un-
gentlemanly manner, and at the chapel ex-
ercises at noon, in presence of the whole
student body, his sentence of indefinite
that there were cries of "Shame" out
rage.' and that Kisses were heard all over
the hall.
The case Of Mr.. Gowens, whose home is
In Kentucky, is even harder. Although a
sophomore in the college department he is
only nineteen, and is not only working his
way through college, but Is assisting a
younger brother. Quiet. gentlemaniike,
mild hammered. not a blot on his record
either for department or work, a more un-
likely subject out of whom to make a con-
spirator or an agitator could not well be
conceived. His gentleness. however. is
equaled by his f1rmness. He would not say
he had done wrong where his conscience
acquitted him. he would rather suffer the
pain and disappointment than lose his own
self-respect. Only one snaft has pierced
his armor-it was where he received a tele-
gram from his invalid mother who has re-
Gently lost her sight, imploring him to
"obey the rules none Of which, by the
way, has he ever broken. With character
istic tenderness Mr.. Gowens had tried to
keep the knowledge of his difficulties
from his mother. but some busybody at the
college could not forbear adding this last
straw to his burden. He has been in con-
slant and regular correspondence with his
father, who Is a teacher in a town some
what distant from his home, and he has
the satisfaction of knowing that he has his
fathers full sympathy. He advises him not
to recede from any position which he be-
lieves to be right for the sake of a mere
personal advantage.
For years there have been no cordial re-
lations between the president of the uniyer-
sity and the student body.
IDA D. BAILEY.