The San Francisco call., 1907-02-10

The reason that our frarsrnftfss srs
made up Of High School students In
stead Of chance outside aoQuatntAnoes
is that they are the, boys we are thrown
with every day, and IT In the natural
thing.
@rhe only objection that can Dc naas
to a good fraternity is that 70 eongt1-
tutes an advantage to individual stu
dents and not to the whole school But
honestly, can't see how thsss In any
thing detrimental about them 70 any
body"
Leslie 3. Henry. assooists editor OF
'NThs Lowell" the school publication.
and LowsITs champion debatsr, on the
other hand. comes forth with ths
strongest possible denuncfattcn of FRA
ternities and their sno6bishnesA His
plea In for trus Amerfcanism and true
democracy "a the schools, and he -
unafraid to say that school fraternttfss
exist chiefly for the purpose OF placing
between their members and those VINO
are not members q ba<r4sr tnsurmount-
able.
To his mind the only fraternity that
should be acknowledged IN pubfic sdu-
cational institutions n ths AsDsekatsd
Student Body.
A Sorority Girl Says
Dorothy Simpson. q lambda Tneta
Phi OF the same school. seems "a tzr
removed from snooStshness or anything
remotely connected with II that one
Is more firmly convinced than ever that
the influences OF secret societies are
not altogether pernicio1s she -
stanchly fraternal IN her views. and
when you ask her II the Lambs arsn's
the best ever, will tell you IL woui&
be fairer to ask some one elss thai
IF the San Fr&ncfsco Board ~ Edu-
cation should adopt the same MEASURES
that the Berkeley board has" she re-
marked, II don't know what would be-
come OF our reading club. Almost al
its members belong to the fraternitleE
and suppose we would be cut or from
that. You know we read plays through
the term, taking parts. that Is. and
reading instead OF recfting them. and.
OF course, not wearing costume At
the end of the term we give one play
in costume with our parts memorized-
1t is really a dramatic club and we
take great deal of interest in it, And
If the fraternity and sorority pupils
We're to be excluded from the cast for
the senior farce / hardly know who
woud be chosen and I think there will
be no trouble. Everything seems very
peaceable now"
DIR. Scott. principal OF the Girls
High School, in his official capacity, ts
opposed to frauernhties and other Sc
cret societies. although he considers
the well-regulated ones, generally
speaking, of indisputable advantaxe
to the student enjoying membership
in them But In this school," says he.
"the subject is not vital one at all,
for sororities are not IN evidence here.
Two years ago I had a talk with my
pupils who belonged to such societies
and In perfect good faith on both sides
we decided 1t would be best to remove
the charters, which at that time were
hanging framed on my once walls, to
paper and to hold no sorority meanings
within the school. Since then I have
suffered no annoyance whatever on
their account Since then I haven't
heard one complaint because OF snue-
bing. Membership in them is dwtn-
ding. 1t appears to me that the
whole thing Is righting itself.
More than I have done have no
right to do. 1t IL not for me 70 say
whether they shall or shall not wear
the Greek letter pins any more than X
would be to dictate to them concsrn-
ing other 1ewelry that thsy please to
wear.
"Aniiiation with a sorority hsfps q
girl socially, no doubt II abe In seek
Ing social distinction. II Is no more
than her parents have done before her.
shortly before the unfortunate
tragedy whose occurrenos has given
impetus to the antifraternity move
ment, Jeanie Mcneil had entered this
school, having left the Lick for some
reason or another. I had known her
for several years and remember her a.
having been q delicate pupil Upon In
ouiry have been told that II these
school societies were in any way ac-l
countable for her act, the fact was not
known among her most intimate
friends"
Almost a year ago George A. Merrill.
principal OF the Lick and Wilmerdinx
schools, at a meeting OF the High
School Teachers Association. offered
two resolutions relative to the subject
Of fraternities. which were passed by
unanimous vote They were the fol-
lowing:
'First-rt Is inadvisabie for a high
school teacher to accept membership in
student fraternity after this date
'Second-HiEh school fraternities
should not be doniciled within the
school buildings or accorded recog-
milton of any sort. The exhibition OF
fraternity charters on the walls OF the
school is especially Objectionable"
That the practices treated OF In these
resolutions have been general and gen
orally disapproved is shown by the
unanimity OF sentiment in the matter
By putting these resolutions into
practice Mr.. Merrill ceased to have
trouble with the fraternities. to whose
existence, however. he is strongly op-
posed He highly approves the action
of the Berkeley board and believes
that it is legally justihable
Dfssensions have occurred over thi.
matter in Seattle and in Sacramento
News comes of more trouble in Los
Angeles. 1t would appear that there
IS unanimfty among the powers that BE-
and also unshaken ndelity among the
members OF the much discussed ana