The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-06-09
A STUDENT CHIRPS UP
BY sTUDE.

By STUDE.
! That college students can expect
nothing from so-called liberal" col
lege presidents has been proven by
the latest action of President Robin
son Of the College of the City of New
York in his action in removing from
the curriculum the alternative course
to military training, civilian drill. The
course in Civilian Drill was offered
as an optional course to the military
drill course after some strenuous
campaigning on the part of the stud
ents for removal of the despised Mill
tary Science and Tactics work. Now
the "pacifist," "broomstick" drill has
been abolished on the flimsy pretext
that facilities to give the course are
lacking" The history of the situation
is worth reviewing, to see the hypo-
crisy of the administration of this
Tammany-owned seat of higher
learning"
On Armistice Day, 1926, blistering
editorial on the merits Of the Military
Training course was carried in the Of
ficial college organ, the Campus,
under the editorship of Felix S.
Cohen. This was followed by a mass
student agitation against compulsory
military training in the colleges that
threatened to assume nationwide pro-
portions. Censorship Of the college
newspaper was then instituted and no
mention was made of the martial
course for a period of about two
weeks. Nevertheless, pressure of agi-
tation finally forced the president of
the college to lift the ban and few
weeks later found a poll of the stud
ent opinion being held while a refer
endun of parent opinion was being
taken, the results of which showed
that the overwhelming attitude Of the
students and parents was vehemently
against having compulsory military
drill in the college.
It was then that the faculty de-
cided that its whiskers and dignity
had blown too long in the lusty breeze
of student opinion and that the pre-
rogative of deciding whether the
students should be drilled for cannon
fodder or not belonged to it's all
/ knowing self only. Well the mills
Of the gods grind slowly but oh so
surely. And it takes a lot of oil to
make the Tammany Hall grist-mill
grind. The faculty considerations
dragged for seemingly endless aeons
until, almost year later, it was an
nounced that there would be an alter
| native course offered for incoming
freshmen, namely the Civilian Drill
Course.
Now examine some crude subter-
fuge, we deluded believers in capt.
talist democracy and bourgeois liber-
alism.
The Civilian Drill course was Of
fered to the incoming class a few
days after they had arranged their
programs, causing many of the first
year men to take the Military Science
and Tactics (which had already been
neatly fitted into their schedules) in
stead of going to the trouble of
changing their programs for the al
tentative course. Secondly, the classes
for the Civilian Drill course were
held at such times that it would have
meant a severe sacrifice for most
students to have taken the course.
Thirdly, and most important for stud
ents Of City College, who come from
workingclass or small-merchant-cla
families, for the Military Training
course the uniforms were supplied by
the U. S. Army, free of charge; for
the Civilian Drill uniforms-eoncern-
ing which, incidentally, there is a
strong suspicion Of graft-there was
a charge of about seven dollars-de-
terrent sufficient for poor City Col
lege student. Add to that the fact
that the few remaining students were
sweated so viciously that it became
the popular saying among the few
hardy souls that dared to take the
course that "This would be a good
course in Civilian Drill if only the
instructors would treat you civilly."
Finally, when you realize that most
Of the work was a modified form Of
military drill, with wands instead Of
guns, military parading, psychology
of hand-to-hand combat by individual
wrestling matches, ETC., you get a
full bird's-eye view of what this hypo-
critical farce of acceding to student
opinion means.
Finally comes this last bit of brazen
effrontery, "that the course will not
be offered to the incoming freshmen
class because Of limited facilities"
The situation is now squarely up
to the students of City College and
| tho rt1,dn.,Ac af ALn n4La,. oalIaernn &c