The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-12-14
School Boards Action i'm Sus-
pending High School Girls
ArOuses the Indignation of the
Young Ladies' Parents.
MAY RETURN NEXT SEMESTER
In the Meantime They Lose
Three Months of School.
Star Chamber Action Believed
to Have Lacked Harmony.

| The school board in star chamber
session last night suspended for the
! balance of the semester the fourteen
! high school girls who were alleged to
have belonged to a sorority. This
morning it was intimated that legal
procedure will follow and many un-
kindly things were spoken about those
responsible for the. wholesale sGspen-
sion.
In a resolution adopted by the board
last night Miss Jessie Burnett, daugh-
ter of Judge J. A. Burnett, was singled
out with a few sentences saying that
further investigation would follow.
Miss Burnett had previously engaged
in a wordy tilt with H. B. Wilson, su-
perintendent of schools, who she said
had given her permission to give a
dance at KelIam hall, December 3. The
superintendent denied this. The mem
bers of the board declined to tell the
nature of the investigations to follow
c. NJ Hill, the father or Miss Har-
riet Hill, one of the suspended girls,
said that his opinion was that the res
olution was unfair in many respects.
He also spoke of the dance interview
with Mr.. Wilson.
Miss Burnett received the permits
sion of Mr.. Wilson to give the dance"
he said, land the affair was given. 1t
was announced in the papers early in
November There was no secret made
of it. Yet the superintendent made
the statement that he did not know
that the dance was being given until
two hours before it was held While
the board denies that the dance had
anything to do with the suspension of
the girls 1 am sure that it was at the
bottom of the whole affair
1t Lasted Five Hours.
That the school board meeting last
night was not smooth running ses
sion is indicated by the fact that it
lasted from o'clock until after II.
For five hours the supposed argument
lasted. 1t is understood that one, pos
sibly two members, were bitterly OPP
posed to the further suspension of the
IA girls. No one was admitted except
the members. the city superintendent
and A. J. Stout, high school principal.
Reporters were forbidden to enter the
sacred precincts where for five weary
hours the fate of more than a dozen
young girls was to be settled. At the
conclusion the resolution was adopted
and that is the only evidence submit
ted to the public of what took place
al the session.
The girls may return after the jan
uary term has ended. thus losing cred
it for three and a half months work
of the present semester. But the SEN
timent is that few. if any of the girls
will go back to Topeka high school at
that time. They have denied, and
their parents have denied, that there
is an organization known as the
lambda Alpha Lambda sorority. De-
malls having proved useless, the stu
dents are said to be DESTROYS of en-
rolling in the academy at Washburn
college.
The next move of the superintend-
ent in his war against alleged secret
organizations in the school is expected
at any time. He is reticent about the
matter.
If the suspended girls want to come
back to the school they must sign
statements that they are not and will
not have any connection with a high
school sorority, and they must sign
statements that they will not attend
any dance or other function of any
such orga nizations. Their parents
must also sign the statements
I'VE do that every term anyway"
said one of the girls this morning.
land we have kept our word
The suspended girls are Jessie Bur-
nett, Georgia Neese, Helen Lucas, Har-
riet Hill. Isabel Stewart, Carol ThraH.
Katherine Dolan, Anna Weightman,
Doris ROsser, Rhea Robertson. Bea-
trice Shakeshaft, Irene Seery, Esther
Paxton and Helen Whitfield