Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-06-19

There was little change in the Colby
situation here during the forenoon,
Thursday. The boys continued to leave
for their homes and the number on the
campus is steadily growing smaller.
Some of the seniors are returning from
their vacation to settle up their ger
sonal affairs before going for good. 1t
is understood that there will be some
sort of commencement exercises, but
just what these will be has not yet been
announced.
Some members of the faculty ard the
alumni are still laboring with the boys
in an attempt to get some concessions
from them. What are now in the city
are being subjected to a great deal of
pressure in one way or another but
there is still no sign of any weakening.
They are very sorry that the college
must suffer for their action, but hav-
ing fixed upon what they consider n
right position they absolutely refuse to
bulge from it except on the condition
that their request be granted and the
sophomore class be re-inStated in a
body. They are willing to arbitrato,
have an investigation made or 10 any
thing else in order to affect settle
mcnt without returning before the de-
cree of suspension is removed. But so
long as the president and faculty hold
rigidly to their position the boys will
hold to theirs.
The president and faculty are just
where they were at the beginning of
the trouble, their only move being thu,
refusal of the request relating to the
sophomOres. All efforts to induce them
to change in any way have failed. They
are az solid as the rocks of Gibraltar
and are planning to do what they can
with what remains from the wreck.
The advances of the alumni have
been met patiently and their sugges-
tons ana arguments heard, but so far
as can be seen they have had no in
fuence at all. 1t is believed that the
boys are now perfectly willing to meet
them half way in anything that can be
suggested to affect n settlement, but
they will not move from their position.
The action of the Colby Club has
been pretty severely criticised in some
quarters Some of the faculty believe
that the club gave the boys the i'm
preston that it would stand behind
them in their position and that this
gave them n great deal of encourage
ment and "stiffened their back Zone"
The club is not unanimous in the mat
ter, or at least has not been thus far, so
it is difficult perhaps to define aCcu-
rately just what its policy has been.
But there is no doubt at all that what
it has done has been influenced only by
desire to prevent irreparahle injury
to the college and to have the trouble
satisfactorily settled. At the start
there seemed to be a need of go
between" to get the two sides together
and the club seemed to be just the right
party to do this. 1t includes practical
" all of the alumni of the college in
the city, men who understand Colby af-
fairs thoroughly and who could APP
preciate the stand taken by both sides
in the case. Since its organization the
club has been doing a good deal in a
quiet way for the good of the college.
There have been earnest champions of
potn sides among it's members, but all
of them have been possessed by one
single object and that has been to
straighten the matter out if possible.
The first plan of the club was to have
the students take back the time limit set
in their first petition and have the
sophomores temporarily re-instated.
Then the faculty would determine just
who had had a part in the disturb
ances at the freshman reading and how
much of a part, the president then
Furnishing them accordingly.
The committee from the club met the
students and succeeded in inducing
them to take the first step in the plan
of settlement, the time limit in the pc
tition being removed. But the presi-
dent and faculty would not move from
their original position and the whole
thing fell through. Since then the
club has been doing what it could to
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