The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-11-22
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
washington, d. c.
CAN COLLEGE BE CIVILIZED?

animal war between the faculties of
our institutions of higher learning and
the students thereof is in full swing.
At Annapolis a change of superintend-
ents has taken place, partly as the re-
suit of haz.ng scandals, it is said. In
a southern university, some students
have withdrawn in a body because the
| faculty, backed by state law, has inter
fered with their secret societies. And
! in many other institutions the efforts
of the faculty to interfere with student
activities, such as hazing freshmen,
! forming secret organizations, and
making merry in general have resulted
I in a state of more or less strain.
On the whole, the professors seem to
| be losing out. They used to inveigh
against dances and against athletics,
but now the social and athletic life of
most colleges goes on without any re-
! proach from the faculties. The au-
thorities have capitulated partly be-
cause they had to do so, and partly be-
cause they found that athletics. es-
| pecially, were an excellent advertise
ment and thereby a help in getting
more Students and in building up the
colleges. Fraternities now flourish in
! most colleges without restraint, and
the ancient and honorable practice of
hazing, altho it is always the subject
of criticism and punishment, is by no
means extinct.
The professors are really bound to
lose out in the long run, because the
| students will not attend a college
! where the most exciting and interest
ing OF activities are curtailed. The
average college president wants to
make his institution an austere and
dignified stronghold of scholarship but
ne also wants to get as many students
as possible The competition for stu
dents is keen, and the students insist
on going where they can have a good
time. Hence the president and his fell
low faculty members find themselves
between the devil of student barbar-
ism and the deep blue sea of oblivion.
and the betting is generally on the
devil
Professors and Students Differ.
To man who spent four years in
two colleges, visited various others,
and belonged to both, national and
local fraternity, it looks as tho this
| lamentable conflict between the Dro-
fessors and the students is due to a
fundamental difference of viewpoint
A college or university is theoreti-
caily place to study. The student
| is supposed to come there because he
wants to study. & He is released from
| the close restrictions of grammar
school EDUCATION because he is sup
| posed to be mature enough not to use
| mis- freedom in way that will inter-
fere with the Pursuit of knowledge.
That is the theory upon which the
( professors act, and upon which some
| OF, the students act-eSpecia1ly those
who are getting thru college with diff
| ficulty and studying some special or
technical line by which they expect to
! make their living. It is decidedly not
! ne way the majority of undergradu-
! ates look at the matter. They go to
/ college for a good time. They regard
it as an escape from parental super
vision, and a chance to spend a little
of dads money without his direct ad-
vice or assistance. In a word, the
| average undergraduate regards college
as an opportunity to assert his indi-
| Yiduality, which is essential q bar
barrie individuality.
The Barbaric Student.
1t has been stated many times that
| each individual in the course of his
development repeats all the stages
| thru which the race has passed. Pro-
bdbly the idea has been overworked,
boys under 16 are undoubtedly saw
| ages in MANY ways. They band
| loosely together like savages: they go
advepturing like savages; and they
| often show savage cruelty both to
! each other and to- animals. ~
This has often been pointed out.
What has not been so generally rec
| ognized is the fact that the boy of
| Is or 10 has merely advanced from
savagery to the next stage of develop
ment. which is barbarism. A typical
American university which is DOM
mated by the students and not by the
| faculty, is a typical barbarism.
Thus all bararisms go in for elabo-
rate organization. The loose tribal
| organization OF saYageS is superseded
| by a complex hierarchy of powers,
| ranging from the head shamans and
medicine men down to the common
warriors. Each of these grades is
highly organized in a secret and mys-
| FERROUS fashion, each is highly jealous
/ of its own rights and of its superiors.
This is exactly what you see in col
leges. The freshman, if he is a likely
I fellow, with money in his pocket,
makes a fraternity his first year. In
one typical college, he may make a
another his third year, and still
| higher and more. esoteric organiza-
ton his fourth year. Each of these
| organizations is a step on the social
| ladder. Each of them puts him thru
a more or less narrowing initiation,
and each gives him the right to wear
certain decorations, and to deal in
certain mystical signs passwords, and
| hand grips. And the chiefs of these
various organizations are the high
priests of the college. They are
| looked up to and venerated by all.
They hold the power of social life and
/ death.
College Boys Like Indians.
All of this is almost EXACTLY like
the organization of a Pueblo Indian
4 village. The analogy cannot be here
described in detail, but it is striking.
The same secret organizations, the
| same high priests, the same cruel and
! extravag giant limitations, and the same
mystic grunts andAgrips are found in
1 each.
Among all barbaric people, there
are innumerable taboos. The same
is true of all our best colleges. The
| barbarian may not eat this, nor touch
that. nor do the other, So the young
midshipman. may not be seen on the
street carrying a suitcase or a package,
in a certain southern college the stu
| dents may not be seen with certain
| village maidens supposed not to be of
the highest social status and in many
colleges a freshman dare not appear
in public with a hat on. The taboos,