New Britain herald., 1921-04-15
PRINCETON MEN AS
 OWN MORAL CENSORS
Whole College World Is Watching
 This Experiment

TTlncetOn, IN. J., Aprll lo.--OnlVer- sity faculties throughout the United States are watching with keen interest the experiment put in effect at Prince ton to have the undergraduates handle the situation with regard to the morals of the student body. The rul- ing marks the beginning of an epoch in student government in Amer ican universities. The professors of Old Nassau have decided that time has come when the undergraduate is better able to handle the question of his morals than the discipline committee of the faculty itself. Ac- cordingly they have placed in the Senior Council the power to recom- mend the punshm ment of students flor acts tending to injure the good name of the moral tone of the university" without giving reasons or evidence to the faculty.
 Princeton has an efficient pictorial system under the guidance of Henry Bowie, known to Princetonians in song and story as "Hank the Cop" The duty of the University Proctor has dated from the days before the Am erican revolution when all Prince ton students lived in Nassau hall, and, as the old records show, indulged in smuggling roast fowl and beer into their rooms through the medium of the negro slaves residing in Prince ton" But with the introduction of the honor system into university life in the nineties, much of the duty and importance of the Proctor was ab- sorbed by the various undergraduate bodies, chief of which is the honor committee itself. Almost all phases of undergraduate activity come under st.g~ rln fiyry fV. nations to the use of plants in the seats of absentees in lecture rooms.
 The Princeton Senior Council re- gently came to the conclusion that at intervals acts occur on the campus that need punishment, and which escape the notice of the Proc tor, but not of the undergraduates themselves. The mental state of an unde ergraduate is such that his con- science does not allow him to report his fellows to anyone even remotely connected with the Faculty. but he is willing to report such proceedings to the Senior Council with the proviso that it shall go no farther. It was to deal with this situation that the new ruling at Princeton was passed.
 The Council, an elective body of seniors, usually including the class officers, the major sport captains and the heads of the important campus activities. meets every Monday night in the council chamber of Murray Dodge hall to consider the affairs of the university. In case. charges of a serious nature are brought against any student h. his fellows the pro- cedings arc in secret, and the Council sits as jury on the case. The offender is brought into the room and seated at the heap of the long table and informed of the accusations. He has the right of stating his case and he may bring in witnesses-and while the defendant is at liberty to call upon anyone he desires in his defense, the testimony of the faculty or of the proctors' force would not be ad- mitted against.
 Witnesses flor the state" are then questioned, and while their testimony may cause anguish to his friends, they have never been known to refuse it. though the council has no means of forcing students to appear in the witness box.
 The whole proceeding is carried on under the honor system. and the word of the defendant carries more weight than circumstantial evidence. After the testimony is completed, the coun- ell goes into deliberation. Points of law do not exist, and the purpose is to reach a decision in equity. A three-uuarter vote is necessary to conviction, any smaller majority amounting to acquittal A similar ma jority is necessary in fixing the penal ty. The president of the council then reports to the faculty that his col leagues have recommended certain penalties to be inflicted upon the de- fendant, a recommendation which is accepted without question.
 A student has the right of appeal to the discipline committee of the fac ulty. in which case all the evidence is presented.