The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1908-01-24
TROUBLE At 4. 4 N. COLLEGE
Statement Of President Hardy a. to
His Action in the Case.


! deem it my duty, in addition to scrl
ing a circular letter to each patron OF
the college, to give to the public, who are
almost equally interested in the welfare
of this great Institution, the facts as ]
see them leading up TO the late unpleas
a~ntness.
Nearly all newspaper reports have in
Dictated that there was a misconception
Of the nature of the real issue. The
waters have been greatly muddied. There
never has been any conflict between the
president of the college and the senior
class, nor between the president of the
college and the great student body. The
senior class and student body, not seeing
the ~undercurrents that were perfectly
visible to the president, had misinter'
preted his motives, and therefore he
never blamed the senior class nor the
student body fer the position they as
sumed relative to his action in having
Mr.. Blanton to withdraw. And while
every student, from the highest to the
lowest, was in an unlawful combination,
contrary to the college regulations, which
prohibit combinations for redress of
grievances, the president did not under.
take to punish any one for such combina,
tons, nor wiz he.
The following is a brief synopsis of
the whole matter:
On the afternoon of December 18th
there was presented to the president by
a committee of the senior class a set of
resolutions, calling his attention to the
conditions of the old mess hall. The
resolutions were presented by Cadet 1t.
Col. S. c. Ward, Maj. j. NJ. Rigby and
Capt. Z. Il, Blanton. The president told
them that they could not condemn the
old mess hall in more severe terms than
he had condemned it in his report to the
board of trustees, which resulted in the
transferring of the funds that were in
| tended for a new chemical laboratory
to a new mess hall, which will be ready
for occupancy now within a very few
weeks. He told them that he had al
ready employed a new cook at a salary
of nearly one hundred dollars per month,
who would be here on December 2Sth
land the cook came at that date). He
told them that the steward, of whom
the resolutions complained very bitterly,
was of their own selection; that the
board of trustees had selected him be-
cause Of their unanimous petition, and
that they had approved him twice within
the last year; first, when the board met
on December Sd, 1906, Immediately after
Mr.. Gallaway's death, to elect a steward;
and again at the close Of last session,
which was less than three scholastic
months previous to this very time; that
only one student had ever complained
to him of the ineffciency Of the stew
ard, and that the president had men.
toned the subject to this student, Maj.
j. M. Rigby, before his opinion was ex-
pressed. The president told him that
he had come to the conclusion that tho
steward was lacking in executive abil-
ity, and that he had already informed
the steward and the board, and was on
the lookout for a capable man, and that
such a one would be employed as soon
as he could be located.
The president told them that the board
of trustees and himself, together with,
Professor Ard, wefe-Iolns ~ ~ thcir
power to hasten the completion of the
new mess hall, which, with the new
equipment that was being put in at a
cost of more than four thousand dollars,
would give them the best and most com
plete mess hall in the South. The pres
ident told them that in view of all these
facts it seemed to him that they had
become unduly impatient, and the presi-
dent felt that their petition was an
unnatural one, which could be ae-
counted for only by the theory that
they had been poorly advised. The
president thought, and still thinks, that
the senior class and the entire student
body were honest in their efforts, and
were entirely ignorant of any improper
influences that were at work, and there
fore the president never blamed a single
man for signing the resolutions or for
presenting the resolutions, nor had he
ever thought OF Furnishing u single man
for any connection with the affair. There
is never a month that passes here that
petitions of some kind do not reach the
executive of the college, and never in
the history of the college has a single
boy been punished either for presenting
such petitions or for signing such petit
lions.
The resolutions were presented De-
cember 18th, as stated above, and in five
minutes after those presenting the reso
buttons were out of the presidents office
he had the steward before him and gave
him a very severe lecture for allowing
conditions to become worse, and in
structed him to get extra help and put
the mess hall in the very best possible
condition, and to keep it that way until
N -N--
we left it, which he hoped would be in a
very few weeks. The new mess hall has