The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-10-07
THOSE COLLEGE MORALS.

When f. L. Crane dropped INTO
print Nth a caustic arraignmcnt OF
college morals he wrought better than
ne knew. His criticism brought out
replies from college men-sone OF
them as impassioned as that of Crane.
others clear. masterful arguments and
facts in defense of the college stan
dard of morality. There will alwaNs
h., those who remember the thought
less indiscretions of youth with a
feeling that is not nf pride. yet moth
ing of shame. To them the whole
proposition is finally reducible to the
indispu1ahle axiom that boys will he
hoys." There are others whose
careers pursued the undertaking path
of rectitude--who never departed
far enough from a straight line on
either side to know really what was
positively right or wrong. and who
consequently are doomed to he Tor
ever unacuuainted with the fearsome
Joys of an irresistible impulse and the
''sho"t-thc-chutes" curve that nils i'll
the space between the hilarity OF last
night and the profound remors OF
the morning after. To such the coll
lege hoy is a hopeless and irreclalm-
able being. albeit he is neither the
better nor the worse because of their
attitude toward him.
How had are college boys" Jus
as had as any single II of them
multiplied by the whole aggregation.
unless it be instead a problem in geo
netrical progression. What makes
more noise than one pig under the
<... Tee, 80 NM Co ~ lie yrifh
the c~ollegian. Like the cubs of all
species. they hunt in packs. They
have the universal desire to make
known the fact that they are here.
Grown-up folks make believe to do
this and that. The college hoy alone
does. He is the one original. lovable
%firehrand. socialist, and anarchist. The
passing years will cure this. and he
will eventually become as common
place as the rest. The Cranes n
their kind will Groom the dirge heard
in the roaring forties" and before
that at Salamanca and the Sorbon-
ne and a thousand years ago at Cluny.
But now. as then. there are happy
and care-free days. when "a boys
will is the winds will and the
lutllSIilS VI Soull dIS ] 'hS
thoughts"
f;ut turning a from the
lighter to the more serious side of the
question. there are certain tendencies
to college evils that deserve the ear
nest consideration of college men.
President Schurman of Cornell. in his
address to the students of that insti-
tuition on the opening of the new col
lege year, CAV them q heart to heart
talk without anything like sentiment
tality in it. He pounded hard on two
outstanding evils Of the day, his
words. in a way being a common sense
reply to some of Mr.. Cranes criticism.
He said:
We have heard much about
graft of late and l regret to say
that some of u greatest and
most corrupt bosses are college
Are the needs and the be-
ginning of grating here? Let a
SUDDEN, neglect his work and
cheat in an examination. let him
deceive himself, his professors.
and his fellow students and he is
practicing the same things that
great political parties find in the
CRATER ana DOOuieF. Let us toll
crate nothing in this university
community which will cultivate
grating in us.
Last year the faculty made an
investigate ton into drinking among
the students, and I want to say
q. o for the benefit Of the old
students that the results of that
investigation were very satisfac-
tory. 1t was found that ninety
nine per e Of the students
conducted themselves in a man.
ner above reproach . The one
per cent is too large for this
university. l warn you against
the two evils. grating and drink
ing. for they seem to me to be
evils to which the university
student is especially prone.
Here. indeed. is a straight from
the shoulder talk by a man WIN
knows his subject. He did not scolt
about the fellow who might get {
nose skinned in a cane rush or com,
out of a football game with a linn
and halo. But he talked about evil
which when once permitted to roo
m the characters of the student body
would become the noxious weeds tina
are the evils of our national life, A,
honest student with a metaphor,
whoop will not bring shame or dis
grace TO his alma mater.