Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-17
STUDENTS UPSET
OVER EXPULSION
v. OF p. Senior Ousted From
Dormitories Without Fair
Trial, They Say
TURNED IN RIOT CALL

Penn students arc in furry of in
dignation because of the expulsion of
member of the senior class from the
dormitories.
A number of the students are indig
nant. not merely because the Senior has
been ousted from the "dorms," but
principally because this action was de
cided on by the 'parietal committee of
two proctors. without the advice or con
currence of the democratic dormitory
committee. which the students resident
in the dormitories are supposed to elect.
The protest has taken the form of an
editorial in today's Pennsylvania. a
petition to John V. Iovett president
of the senior class and likewise president
of the undergraduate council. and n de-
mand by the council that democratic
government be restored in the dormi
tories.
The proctors against whom the stu
dents are iucensed are DIR. Fl. Fogel and
DR.. NJ. II. Fitzpatrick, who live in the
dormitories and who with the dormi-
tories committee of thirty undergrad
uates are supposed to be responsible for
the discipline maintained within the
walls.
Name Is Withheld
The name of the senior student who
was expelled has been withheld.
The cause of his expulsion was a
prank which added to the merriment of
the University some months ago. One
night. in the last term, there was a
class fight in the dormitory quadrangle
between members of the freshman and
sophomore classes. Several hundred
men answered the yells of fresh out
and "Oh. sophs, that brought the clans
piling from every dormitory house on
the quadrangle. The fun was going fast
and furious, with midnight not far dis
tant, when the senior classman, either
because he wanted to get to sleep or to
add to the general festivity of the oc-
casiop, turned in q riot call to the police.
A wagonload of the laws guardians
responded as fast as a motor patrol
could bring them. They didn't know
from the riot call that the fight was in
side the walls of the quadrangle. When
they found what the trouble was they
discreetly withdrew and left the under
graduates to fight it out.
Kept Out of Quadrangle
The proctors investigated, learned
that the telephone call had been sent by
a senior, satisfied themselves as to his
ideutity. and then formally expelled him
from the dormitories. SO strict an in
tertiice was set against the offender that
the guards at the dormitory gates will
: not let him even visit the quadrangle.
He Is an outcast and an exile. his
friends say, and they call the whole
proceeding an outrage.
The dormitory is supposed to take
eognizance of al disciplinary matters.
There are thirty houses in the dormi-
tory system, each of which is supposed
to elect a representative. The students
claim that the custom has been en-
croached upon by authority, so that the
proctors have proceeded in this matter
without even consulting the undergrad
yates.
The Pennsylvanion says editorially
In its current issue:
The students should be adequately
represented and a regular trial held.
Z Placing of arbitrary power in the hands
of two men to expel arbitrarily with =
out investigation is not desirable. There
is no use to permit autocratic methods
to rule the situation