1912–13 Volume 37 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

366 THE SCROLLand the most effective way to-do it.is to announce that members of thelatter will not be eligible to the former. Unless the college fraternitiesdo this they will not only be condemned for many of the faultsthat are laid at the door of the school fraternity but they will becharged with actually upholding the school fraternity system, andthereby will make many enemies for themselves. But the college fraternitiescannot separately effect this reform. They must act togetherif they accomplish anything of this kind, and the only meansof united action is through the Interfraternity Conference. If theconference should approve the proposition that members of schoolfraternities should be ineligible for college fraternities, that wouldput an effectual quietus on the school fraternities. The conferencehaving taken such action, there might be occasioned violations of therule, but complaints of violation should be made to a committee onappeals of the conference, and no fraternity could afford to allow itschapters to be thus arraigned for disregard of a wholesome regulation.Any fraternity after one or two of its chapters had beenarraigned would be sure to exercise discipline in its own way toprevent its chapters from attempting to take undue advantage oftheir rivals.PERHAPS the most praiseworthy act of the Interfraternity Conferencewas its declaration in favor of local conferences to regulaterushing rules. Such conferences exist now at twenty-five or morecolleges, but unfortunately numerous instances have been reported inwhich chapters have violated their interfraternity agreements orhave evaded them in tricky ways. A number of cases of pledgesbeing "lifted" have been reported during this collegiate year. Atsome colleges the bad faith and moral obliquity shown by some chaptershave caused the local conferences to be dissolved, and free forall fights for members to be resumed. The question naturally arises,have the fraternities any honor that thus act dishonorably? If thefraternities disregard honor or are careless about questions of honor,the sooner they are suppressed the better. But the whole systemshould not be condemned for the moral delinquences of some of thechapters. By all means the Interfraternity Conference should havea committee on appeals, that would investigate all cases of violationof local agreements brought to its attention, and that should trythese cases on the evidence presented. Even though no discipline