Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-11-20
Can College Be Civilized
By Frederic j. Haskin
W. ASHINGTON, D. c., Nov. 15.-The an
wv nual war between the faculties of our


scandals, it is said. In a southern univer-
slty, some students have withdrawn in a
body because the faculty, backed by state
has interfered' with their secret societies.
And in many other institutions the efforts of
the faculty to interfere with SUDDEN activ-
tiles, such as haZing freshmen, forming Sc
cret organizations, and making merry in
general have resulted 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 reproach from the fac
ulties. The authorities have capitulated
partly because they had to do So and partly
because they found that athletics, especially
were an excellent advertisement and thereby
help IN getting more students and in
building up the colleges. Fraternties now
flourish in most colleges without restraint
and the ancient and honorable practice of haz-
ing, although 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 rum because the students
will not attend a college where the most
exciting an interesting of activities are cur
tailed. The average college president wants
to make his institution an austere and dig
nified stronghold Of scholarship, but he also
wants to get as many students as possible
The competition for students is keen, and
the students insist on going where they can
have good time. Hence the president and
his fellow faculty members find themselves
between the devil of student barbarism and
the deep blue sea of oblivion and the bet
ting is generally on the devil.
Professors and Students Differ
70 a man who spent four years in two
COLLEGES, visited various others, and be-
longed to both national and local frater-
nifty, it looks as though this lamentable con-
| f1ict between the professors and the students
is due to fundamental difference of view
point
A college or university is theoretically
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
supposed to be mature enough not to use his
freedom in way that will interfere with
the pursuit of knowledge.
This is the theory upon which the pro-
lessons act, and upon which some of the
students act-especially those who are get
ting through college with difficulty and
studying some special or technical line by
which they expect to make their livings. 1t
is decidedly not the way the majority of
undergraduates look at the matter. They
go to college. for good time. They regard
1t as an escape from parental supervision,
and chance to spend little of dads
money without his direct advice or as
sistance. In word, the average under
graduate regards college as an opportunity
to assert his individuality, which is essen
I1dIly d DdfUiTlC 1nu1VlQualCy.
The Barbaric Student
1t has been stated many times that each
Individual in the course Of his DEVELOPMENT
! repeats all the stages through which the
race has passed. Probably the idea has
been overWorked, but it is certainly sug-
gestive Thus boys under sixteen are I'M
doubtedy savages in many ways They band
loosely together like savages; they go adj
venturing 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 recognized is the
fact that the boy of IS or 10 has merely adj
vanced from savagery to the next stage of
development, which is barbarism. A typical
| american university, which is dominated by
the students and not by the faculty, is typ
zeal barbarism.
Thus all barbarisms go in for elaborate
organization. The loose tribal organization
or savages Ii superseded by a complex HER
archy or powers ranging from the head
shamans and medicine men down to the COM
mon warriors. Each of these grades is high
~ organized in secret and mysterious fash
ion, each is highly jealous of it's own rights
and of it's superiors.
This is exactly what you see in colleges
The freshman, if he is likely fellow, with
money in his pocket makes fraternity his
first year. In one typical college, he may
make certain ribbon society his second
year, another his third, and a. still higher
and more esoter organization his fourth
year. Each of these organizations is a step
on the social ladder. Each of them puts
him through more less narrowing initi-
ation 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 organiza-
! lions 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 or
ganization of a Pueblo Indian village. The
analogy cannot be here described in detail,
but it is striking. The same secret organ
izations, the same high priests, the same
cruel and extravagant limitations, and the
same mystic grunts and grips are found in
each
Among all barbaric people, there are in
Vulnerable taboos. The same is true of all
our best colleges The barbarians may not
eat this, nor touch that, nor do the other.
So the young midshipman may not be seen
on the street carrying suitcase Or pack
age, 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 fresh
man dare not appear in public with hat
on. The taboos, both of college boys and
of barbarians elsewhere, are strange and
many. The difficult thing that the as
piring freshman always learns is the
plicated list of things that are "bad form"
Bad form means in college exactly what ia
boo does in the life of barbaric tribes
.4thletes Are Warriors
The barbaric tribe always has it's special
class of warriors who go out and do BATTLE
against other tribes, and these are, of course,
represented by the college athletes, and the
fho horn ic hn af