Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise., 1938-12-02
PRESIDENT BARR
DISCUSSES PLANS
FOR OLD COLLEGE


days. Many of those who are us
ten;nq to me, including alumni mem
hers of the College, will by now al
most certainly have been told by some
hoav that the College administrator
has abolished fraternities ana mas
.hol;sbed athletics. Those who De-
Eoved this statement should, 1t seems
~ me. be gravely disturbed. l think
o,obt promptly to disabuse them.
To keep the record straight, shaii
+horefeore first state the facts. Frat
entities at st. Johns have not Deen
obol;shed. but the College has decided
that after the close of the present aca-
demic session it will no longer carry
+bono on its budget, and will use the
houses they now occupy to develop
bousa system. Athletics have not
heen abolished either, but the Coi-
Iono has decided that after the close
Of the present academic session atm
Lotto facilities will be increased anu
at the same time will be placed on
a strictly intramural basis. i
The College has accumulated plen'y
of evidence during the past year Clia'
both steps are wise steps. Botn steps
vore taken after prolonged study OF
+ba situation and for definite reasons
Rut as head of the College l THINK
am obligated to state these reasons
and to see that they are as "lue,y
understood as possible. am not taik
;po merely of the alumni, altnougn
these monthly programs are dlrecceu
primarily to the alumni. obviously
+he alumni of any College should be
not merely informed of its policies put
should know the reasons for its poll
.;os lam talking also of the general
nublic. For the reasons that leo 10
these two steps at st. Johns have
;mnl;cations for every other college
IN the country, just as the reasons
for the steps in policy which other col
leqes take have implications for St.
John's. In brief, am explaining to-
night why significant changes have
heen announced in the fraternity sys-
tenn and the athletic system at 81.
Iobn's. to take effect next September;
but in explaining these changes l am
discussing liberal education in demo-
cracy. 80.
First. the fraternities. Fraternities
at Ct. Johns have undergone various
v;c;ssitudes. indeed I might say IN
credible vicissitudes. At one perloo
they rented houses off campus. For
disciplinary reasons and to put an end
tn a public scandal, they were then
assigned to College dormitory units.
The fraternities did not rent these
units. Their members paid the same
fees which non-fraternity men paid,
but instead of getting for their money
the use of bedroom and the use OF
some dingv social rooms in Mcdowell
Hall. they got in addition rather pleas
ant and in some cases pretty extensive
social rooms in the so-called fraternity
house. Meanwhile, the College, which
at that period had permitted its IL
nances to delay, allowed the frater-
mites to do about as they liked with
the College property assigned tnem'
Thev furnished their own social rooms
which was certainly unobjectionable.
Thev made also structural changes IN
the houses, some authorized, some US
authorized. In one case structural
changes were made, which I presume
the then College authorities did not
know of, but which threatened to
cause an exterior wall to collapse
If fraternity chapter diminished
in number so that a portion of its
house was unoccupied, it's empty
rooms went empty while overhead con-
tinued.
Finally, the quality of social life
lived in the fraternity houses remain
ed inadequate. They were requested
to draw up house rules that would i'm
prove that social life. They objected
that they could not enforce such rules.
AS soon as it was determined that
the fraternities could not be guided
into setting up enough self-govern-
ment to provide proper support for
the educational purposes of the Col
lege, as soon as it was determined
that they were unwilling to see that
their houses were used as mems dor
mitories, the College administration
assumed the responsibility which they
would not assume, and issued dormi-
tory rules for them. Furthermore,
since the fraternities could not or
would not assume responsibility, it
was obviously folly for the College to
subsidize them. For note that the
loan of special houses for their ex-
aI,,c;,ro usa was a definite S1lhSidu