The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-08-04
Alpha Delta Phi Criticized,


Boston Transcript: 1t required no
extraordinary foresight to predict that
the action of the Alpha Delta Phi
fraternity in suspending the charter
Of its New York City college achaptcr
/ Would. cause wide public discussion.
The fact. that suspension was ordered
only because of the predominance of
the Jews at the institution A7d the
further fact that the chapters long
and honorable history was apparently
given no consideration have provoked
a great deal of unfavorable comment.
And it is interesting to note that
much of the criticism comes from
Alpha Debts themselves. Looked at
from the larger angle, the fr~aternity'S
action can hardly help having a seri-
Gus effect pon all Greek letter society
life. These organizations do not stand
any too high in the public estimation
and in some states have only recently
escaped extinction. If they are to
continue aB in the past they must con
duct themselves in a manner that will
convince outsiders that they really
make for democracy. Once it becomes
noised about tha they are snobbish
and narrow-minded they will find
themselves in trouble.
Preaching yesterday from the. pulpit
of Plymouth church, in Brooklyn,
which, as assistant, he used to share
with DR.. Lyman Abbott twenty years
ago and more, Rev. Howard S. Bliss,
president of the Syrian Protestant col
lege in Beirut, Syria, illustrated his
discourse on the problems presented
by the in~termingling or races and
faiths by reference in the suspension
of the Manhattan chapter on the
ground that the city college lacked
fertility because in that college "the
Hebraic element is greatly in excess"
Brief and guarded as they were. DR..
Bliss words constituted a sharp re-
buke to Alpha Delta Phi-a rebuke
rendered all the more pointed by his
making clear that he spoke as a loyal
and devoted alpha Delft and that he
spoke from what was once the pulpit
of another Alpha Delt,' Henry Ward
Beecher.
st is a very great sorrow to me-"
he said, that al fraternity which i
have honored so highly and which has
meant to me almost as much as the
most sacred things in life, should have
taken this action on the grounds pub
lished. / hope that those were not the
grounds and that the published stories
are not true, but If they are true. it
will be necessary for me and for
others to consider well and carefully
what shall be our future relations with
Alpha Delta Phi. My conception OF
Alpha Delta Phi is that it ought not
to hinder but ought to help solve the
great problems which confront us ma
tionaIly. / feel deeply how splendid
is the work of DIR. Finley at City coll
lege, and / deem 1t most regretable
that any fraternity which has stood
for such high ideals should be an
obstacle in the path of such work as
his and City colleges
President Hibben of Princeton also
discussed the affair with vigor. "Fol
two years he said, 81 taught at the
City college, having the chair of
philosophy, and during that inter
course with the students / found them
to be as clean, as earnest and as intel
lectual a body of young men as / ever
met in my life, either as a teacher OF
a citizen. have never met a more
conscientious set of young men," ne
continued, Cor any with q higher pur.
pose or cleaner slate. and I firmly
believe the action OF the Alpha Delta
Phi to be snobbish and that it VIII
prove a boomerang to the society. Il
is never essential for a fraternity Il
have racial bodies forced upon it, ant
the Alpha Delta Phi was ii obligated
to admit Jews il it did not SO de.
sire