The San Francisco call., 1907-02-10
FEAR FRAT" MOVE
MAY BREAK UP
ATHLETICS

With all fraternity men prohibited
from competition in school affairs in
one high school and the principals and
members of the various Boards of Edu-
cation discussing the advisability of
following this lead, the athletes of the
prep" schools wonder where they get
off and If there will be any interscho-
lastic competition this season. If the
games and meets are held as usual,
what will be the result? Who will suf-
fer the most? These and other like
questions are troubling the high school
boys.
The questions are indeed timely and
the fears of the young athletes are not
without foundation. The stand against
the fraternities has never been more
determined than at present, and with
the return of the San Francisco Board
OF Education from the East it Is entire
ly probable the ironclad exclusion rule
laid down at the Berkeley school will
be extended to take in the lads of the
schools on this side of the bay. So far
there has been no suggestion from the
direction of Oakland or Alameda to
break up the school fraternities.
AS the matter now stands 1t would
seem that the California School of Me-
chanical Arts, which has always been
strong bidder for Academic League
honors, will stand first in line. At this
school there are no regular fraterni-
ties and only one initiation of the So
called high school Greek letter socie-
ties
Through the foresight OF their prin-
cipal, George A. Merrill the athletes
Of this school stand to win. II frater-
mites are abolished they will remain
as the strongest school. as no depletion
will be felt in their ranks. While the
Board OF Education may not eliminate
the societies, the fact that it is entirely
probable this may happen has put a
damper on training at the schools
where the frats are strongest
AT the Lowell High School, which
would be affected in case the local
board acts unfavorably on the question.
the loss will be disastrous. The 'frats,'
have a strong hold on the affairs of
the school. According to the fraternity
students themselves. they run the
school. Last year the baseball team
that represented the Sutter-street
school was spoken of as the frat"
team. 1t was the boast of the frater-
mites that not a man played on the
school nine who did not wear on his
shirt the bejeweled pin of some secret
organization. No matter what class of
ball the aspirant might put up at the
tryouts, unless he was a frat man
hopes of playing for the whole school
were small
At the Mission High School and Poly
technic the case was not as acute, al
though the Greek letter men are
strong. Lick and Cogswe1l and Will
merding are the three schools free from
societies on this side of the bay. They
have been so from the start While
Lick is admittedly the strongest fac
tor in the league out of the trio, the
other institutions Will fall into line
close to their sister school If the frats
are downed.
Oakland High School would suffer
heavily if the School Board of that
city followed in the footsteps of their
neighbors at Berkeley. The school of
the college town is severely crippled
Already the high school band of the
school has been forced out Of existence
because of the large number of fra
ternity members who were included in
the ranks. 1t is expected other stu
dent activities will suffer accordingly.