The San Francisco call., 1908-12-12
REGISTRAR REVIEWS
STANFORD TROUBLE
DR.. O. L. Elliott of Student Af=
fairs Committee, Advises Abo-
lition of College Franks
E. M. Leaf, Editor of Sequoia,
Replies and Suggests More
Tolerant Policy

student affairs committee
Great interest attaches to the article
because it expresses the views of a
faculty member on general student con-
ditions. This is the first time that
any member of the present student
affairs committee has written at any
length on the subject.
The appearance of the article has
additional significance because it was
intended by Editor E. NJ. Leaf. 10, to
publish statement of the students
along similar lines for comparison with
DR.. Elliott's article but according to
the editor, this idea was given up un-
der pressure
DR.. Elliott has taken exception to the
way his copy was handled by the
Sequoia editor, and in a communication
to the Daily Palo Alto says his inten-
tion in submitting the article was not
to open any controversy
ANDREW ID. WHITE QUOTED
The article in the Sequoia gives ex-
tracts from the college publications in
months past and from the addresses of
Andrew d. White at the Inauguration
of Cornell university 40 years ago. DR..
Elliott quotes as follows:
You are not here to hang upon a
university You are here to help build
university This is no place for chill
drens tricks and toys; for exploits
WHICH tACilt the WOnQeImSnI OIL DOdTQ-
ing school misses. You are here to
begin a mans work in the greatest
time and land the world has ever
known
Writing with reference to this re-
mark DR.. Elliott questions the necessity
of tubbings, nightshirt parades and
plug ugly posters. In regard to the
first named topic DR.. Elliott says:
Do mature students and voters re-
gard tubing of freshmen as a mans
work or is 1t perchance child's trick
poor college tradition which ought
long ago to have been supplanted by a
better? What have voters and students
who expect to be treated as men in
common with the vulgarities which
characterized pam Hellenic night?'
OBJECTION TO TUBING
The writer next discussed the drink
question and says that the 'Menlo
habit" and Stanford do not agree and
that a student who acquires the Menlo
habit should leave at once before the
committee is called upon to expel him.
In conclusion he sums up the situa-
ton, as he sees 1t, as follows:
1T would be a pity if this article
should stop with anything which may
seem threat. My point is that night
shirt parades, tubing. pam -Hellenics
plug uglies and the like, as they have
developed on our campus, indicate that
not all are ready for the responsible
ties of self government If men and
women of the student body bent upon
the beginning of tasks of men and
women, can control these things, purge
them, do away with them; If they can
impose upon children and boarding
school misses and upon the lawless
standards Of conduct, and If they can
create a student sentiment so wise and
sure that there will be no need of
faculty action, why then the way to
happiness is open to ALL"
STUDENT EDITOR REPLIES
Editor Leaf comments upon the sit
uation touching the topic as he see 1t
with students eyes. His statements
are at variance with those of the fac
ulty writer in several instances. His
editorials are in part as follows:
Doctor Elliott's article which is as
frank a statement of the general atti-
tude of the student affairs committee
as has been published, indicates to us
quite clearly that the committee is not
in sympathy with and does not appre-
ciate the undergraduate view. We also
gather the impression from his state
ment that all student customs which
do not serve some high ethical or edu-
cational purpose are held in diSfavOr by
the committee and that the natural,
legitimate desire of college men for
diversion and recreation from the seri-
Gus business of study is an evidence of
childishness and lack of manliness and
virility.
With those in authority holding this
view it is inevitable that there should
be constant friction between committee
and students, and to add to the diff
Guilty, the attitude of the undergrad
yates themselves has served to widen
the breach. The student body naturally
enough, was stirred to a high pitch Of
resentment by the events of last March
This. feverish Indignation, however, has
since cooled off on the surface and
changed to an undercurrent of ami
mostly toward the faculty. Since that
time the attitude displayed toward the
committee has been one of repressed
antagonism. The committee has. to a.
certain extent, been placed on the de-
fensive and has thought 1t necessary
to maintain it's position with force.
STANFORD SPIRIT DISAPPEARS
That is the situation at present. The
opposing forces face each other con-
stantly prepared to do battle, with
this difference, however. in the relative
positions of the opponents--the authori-
ties are safely intrenched behind an
impregnable stone wall, which sa the
to themselves.
Nor would it be matter of so much
moment if the i'll feeling between fac.
student alone. but 1t becomes matter
of the utmost concern when we dis
cover that the gravest injury is being
done to Stanfords prestige and to the
stanford spirit The spirit of disaffec-
ton and antagonism has so permeated
the whole student body that it has be-
come matter of comment among
uDperclassmen that the real Stanford
spirit. that has always been syn0ny-
nous with good fellowship and high
achievement is rapidly disappearing,
and for no other reason than that IT
can not flourish in an atmosphere OF
continual strife. No further proof OF
this statement were needed than the
two football rallies this year The
spirit displayed on these occasions was
in marked contrast to the spontaneous
outbursts of enthusiasm of former
years. And the end is not yet for the
results of the present disanectlon Will
be more apparent in the near future
than at present.
EDITOR SUGGESTS REMEDY
The remedy. as the student editor
sees it, is as follows:
The remedy? That is the real crux
of the question. Can one be found that
will effectively remove the existing
difficulties? We think so. In the hrst
place let the student affairs committee
adopt a broader, more tolerant polcy
one adapted to college students rather
than to preparatory school youths
Then, by reason of their superior age
and experience we are justified In ex-
pecting them to be the ones to take
the initiative in restoring harmony; but
at all events they should meet the
students more than half way.
The students, for their part. must