Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-17
CULTURE POLE OF SENIORS
HANDS FACULTY SURPRISE
Plurality in College of City of New York
Glass Label Themselves Socialists
and Against Dry Law.

=, bition: that Sinclair Lewis Is its IA
yorite novelist and Edgar Lee MasteSS
| its favorite poet. If there Is any trace
of cultural or political orthodoxy In
this collective mind Of the outgoing
class in q college of $4,000 students, 1t
is not revealed. All preferences, tastes
and beliefs, as here disclosed, are more
or less at odds with established college
sanctions.
While the students were thus record
ing their dissent from things as they
are, Moses J. Strook, chairman Of the
board of higher education, was re-
proving them in an address at the
| Charter day exercises of the college.
at is the habit Of young men," he
said Ito be impatient OF traditions
That Is obviously foolish. 1t Is only
through the experience Of countless
generations that we get the culture and
development Of today. Criticism Is
rampant and most Of it, I am sorry to
say, is destructive"
Call Einstein Greatest Modern.
In the QUESTIONABLE, the political
alliances Of the seniors were recorded as
follows: Socialist, 1877; Democratic,
1853; Republican, So; Communist, IA.
Only Is students preferred varsity let
tiers to Phi Beta Kappa. For the f1rSt
time since the annual class census be-
gan, there was no financier or inventor
in the list Of the worlds greatest men.
The five greatest men in history were
listed as follows: Jesus, Aristotle,
Leonardo da vinci. Shakespeare and
Albert Einstein. Einstein was chosen
the worlds greatest living man.
What Mr.. Stroock said and what the
students said is observed here as an in
tereSting class between faculty and un-
dergraduate points of view, in one OF
he largest of American colleges. APP
parently, 50 far as the senior vote is
concerned, H. l.. Mencken scores heavily
over the college dons.
Another Cultural Upset.
There was still another cultural up
set in New York this week when the
bust Of Walt Whitman was planted in
the Hall Of Fame at New York Uni
versity. For many years the friends Of
the lusty Long Island bard had been
hammernig at the gates Of this arcanum
Of the great without success.
Greenwich Village. back in the days
of plush hats and low heels, used to
worry more about Walt Whitman not
being in the Hail of Fame than it did
about getting its rent money. This
correspondent fell in with a group OF
Whitman conspiratorS in Washington
Square one dark night. They were on
the way to the Hall of Fame with some
precious object wrapped up in tissue
paper. They got into the silent, shad-
owy arcade with the statues Of the i'm
mortals arranged along a collonade.
Then they undid their package It was
tiny clay bust of Whitman, done by
Art Young, Whimsical cartoonist and
satirist. With solemn midnight cere-
mony, they enshrined the miniature of
their COLOSSUS In a great, yawning
niche. Then they pledged themselves
to q lifelong battle for Whitman's ON
cial acceptance in the Hall of Fame.
One of the conspirators was young
Mark Western1an. He became o. sue
cessful business man and now has a
country estate in Long Island. He was
congratulated today on Whitman's be-
lated recognition.
"Uh-huh," he said. 1T remember
when we put him in the hall that night.
don't think so much of him now
sort Of windy old bird" The talk
turned to the stock market and the
good gray poet" seemed the least of
Mr.. Westerman's troubles.
Smaller Derby Delegation.
A fair-sized wall Street delegation
left for Louisville Friday to attend the
running OF the Derby at Churchill
Dcwns. This year there were few air