The San Francisco call., 1905-03-15
BIG "C' STIRS
Up DISCUSSION
Poet Charles Keller Thinks
Lovely Berkeley Needs No
Symbol on the Hills
STUDENTS IGNORE TALK
Plans for Building Great
Letter of Cement Go For
ward Despite Opposition
Berkeley once San Francisco Call.

! Berkeley Office San Francisco Call.
! 21i8 Center street, March a.
| People OF the college town and all
| the folk who have their habitat on the
!, university campus are rapidly aligning
! themselves in sections that stand in
/ favor of or are opposed TO the build
/; ing of a gigantic &C" on Charter Hill,
back of the university. The sopoho-
| mores and freshmen are to build the
big. CO. out of cement. 1t is intended
/ TO be a landmark, a college symbol,
the foundation of a Charter day tradi-
ton, and in other ways it appeals to
the college mans love of an outward
and visible sign of his university life.
| The poet, Charles Keeier, however,
and small host of university pro-
fessors and others, are strongly against
the big &C." Poet Keeler has long
stood for the beautiful in Berkeley"
| He issued a formal statement of his
| opinions in this big "C'' matter to-day,
following the example of Professors
Whitney and Gayley, who yesterday
! besoaght the students to refrain from
"desecrating' Charter Hill with an
enormous university symbol.
Poet Keeier writes of the matter as
fellows:
1t is the order OF the day that competition
should be succeeded by combination. and
| II is not surprising thai ma the freshmen
and sophomore students of the university plan
ming 10 suppiant the tlme-honored Charter day
rush on the hills with peaceabie joint EFFORT
at puDicuy. The novel plan, we are told.
is to place an immense cement C on the
hillside. where 1t will be seen for miles around
and may stand as a symbol of conciltation
between freshmen and sophomores OF Calitor-
| MIA. or more appropriately OF plain Cement
This brilliant conception OF joint C has
been proposed in an effort to perpetuats q
feature of rushing. Comparatively few OF the
present day freshmen and sophomores who are
SO eager TO continue this tradition in amended
form have any clear notion either OF its mean
Ing in the past of the utter absence OF
meaning in its present continuance
In the good old days of Berkeley it was
| customary to celebrate Charter day by an ad-
dress from representative OF each of the
| freshman could be sufficiently mature to par
ticipate in such disnihed programme. and so
the freshman class was each year officially
snubbed The unwisdom of this plan was
shown by the fact that the young men re-
| sented their omission and determined that II
they could no. be represented in dignited
way they would force themselves upon the at
tention of the university authorities and the
public generally by some means OF offensive
publicity To this end various devices were
tried by enterprising freshmen leaders, but
none proved so successful as the class number
was challenge for a combat which no So
phomore with the proper spirit OF class loyalty
the hills could be safely depended upon as
a result
When the plan Of having sophomore Junior
and senior addresses at the Charter day ex-
ercises was very wisely abandoned by the
university authorities. and instead some dis
tinguished speaker was invited to make an
important address on that occasion the excuse
for this display of class partisanship no longer
lished and must not be allowed to die out. So
it was that year after year the freshmen held
IL, of
the students affairs committee
NOT ORNAMENTAL.
But IL the meaning was lost in putting the
freshman class number upon the hills when
the system of student speakers at Charter day
was abandoned how doubly meaningless is the
present plan of freshmen and sophomores com.
bining to put UP great C on the spot!
1t is not. an exhibition of spirit nor of unver-
sity spirit: it is neither useful ornamental:
| On the contrary, II 1t is done the &C
| will be a permanent blot the landscape.
| a permanent witness TO the bad taste of stu
dents a public exhibition OF misdlrected
energy
wish to perpetuate the tradition of freshman
Charter day representation, why not make the
| occasion significant and proof OF their de-
established admirable tradition of leavn
some class day token that will permanently
enrich the grounds. Why should not the two
| lower classes. the freshman class alone,
elevate the Charter day tradition into some
thing of this sort? There are numoerless tenn
| porary wooden bridges across the creeks in the
university grounds. Suppose the cement. in
stead of being used for a meaningless &C on
the hilltop should be worked into a small
cement bridge in the hollow. Or IL might be
put into the form of drinking fountain. or
bench with a tablet inserted giving the class
which did the work and the occasion.
Frank Todd. a prominent university
aIumnus graduate of "a, has written
to the college publications the follow
ing paragraphs on the subject:
The big &C, may reasonable be expected to
lie cut apon the soft bosom of the hills as
long the hills have one; how long. nobody
may challenge the attention and excite the
wonders OF voyagers through the Golden Gate
when the alphabet of which IL is part has
perished from the memory of men. For We are
the ancients OF a later. day; and unhappily.
and history. hardly more permanent than the
bloom on plum.
thing may not be done well enough. Forty
| tons of cement Is good. A hundred would
be better. I hope. the under classmen will en-
gage the cooperation of the best engineers in
the undergraduate body, select the most prom
ising site, and base the big C. on founda-
tions that reach to the core Of the world
Recorder James Sutton of the uni
versity says:
while / should emphaticaliy favor almost
any structure that would be monument to
the birth Of the larger university spirit,
should regard the concrete &C. as an objse-
, considered. I have at present nothing better
TO suggest On the whole, ! should prefer the
/, &C. to class numbers. with their annual ac-
| compartment OF disorder
SOME OTHER OPINIONS.
| Professor Irving Stringham speaks
| thus of the big CO. episode:
| I ,ympathize with Professor Whitney in his
hone that our beautiful hills may not be dis
! figured with unsightly objects. and II the big
&C. il to be % conspicuous as to make 1t a
dominant feature of the landscape I should
urge that more suitable site for II be chosen
| l suggest that place at the base OF the hills
| not far from the university buildings could
| be found for 1t. where an annual ceremonial
| of an appropriate and interesting character
could be presented and be participated in by
| the entire body Of students OF the two lower