Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-10-21
STUDENTS EXCESSES.

DisOrderly acGs committed by stu
dents are perhaps less numerously
reported this fall than in some form
er years, but there are still too many
and so outrageous have they thus
far been, indeed, that the presidents
Of three Of the foremost universities
have been impelled to take serious
action upon them. One has sus-
pended for a year three members of
his second years class. The other
two, in addition to such enforcement
of discipline, have expressed to the
police the hope that they will not
discriminate in favor of students
who break the laws, but will treat
them as they would any other Of
. tenders. In this we are inclined
strongly to sympathize with the
presidents, and to wish that other
b 9ads of institutions might adopt
the same course.
The plea that "yonth must have
its fling" and that due allowance
must be made for the effervescent
animal spirits of young men is not
to be ignored. We appreciate it's
weight. We have heard elaborate
arguments in favor of college
athletics on the ground that they
afford healthful means of crafty
ing those effervescent spirits and so
make for orderliness of department.;
but we are afraid that breaches of
order are as frequent in institutions
famous for the athletics as they are
elsewhere. We cannot see, either,
why young men IN college, Just be-
cause they are in college, are any
more entitled to indulge in such
ebulIitions than are other young
men of the same age who are not
in college. If the young men of a
community who are not collegians
should act as many collegians do
they would be regarded as either
fools or rufians Why should that
which would be intolerate in the
one case be condoEed in the other?
We cannot concede that matricula-
ton in 4n institution of liberal cult
ure gives license for ruffianism.
Interclass rivalry, especially be-
tween sOphOmores and freshmen, is
inevitable. It is not greatly, if at
all, to be regretted. But there is one
rivalry of man and another rivalry of
brutes. Against fair and manly con-
tests of strength, agility or shrewd-
ness, conducted within the college
Enclosure, we have not word to
say, nor do disapprove the enforce
ment Of certain traditional customs
as the result Of such contests. But
the humiliating and painful and
sometimes dangerous ''hazing" of
solitary individuals by oyerwhelm-
ing numbers is never anything more
than contemplate cowardice and
caddishness, while the carrying of
student brawls upon the streets and
into hotels and theatres, to the dis
comfort, annoyance and peril of the
unconcerned public is simple law
breaking which should be sup
pressed and punished like any other
similar misdemeanors. TO he a |
college town is a source Of pri6e
TO an American community, but it
would be an unenviable and a
dreaded distinction if the student !
body were to form a lawless guild,
exempt from the common restric-
tons of civilized and cultivated life.
Manliness and respect for law and
order are essential elements of real
culture, and those who are unwill-
ing to acquire and to practise those
qualities have no place in college
or university.
There's one redeeming feature
about parrot-it only repeats just