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

544 THE SCROLLernor and President of the Senate is working for the fraternities, and it is hopedthat his assistance will aid materially in defeating the repeal.The legislature cut down the amount of the appropriation asked by the universityfor running the next two years, $667,000. No provision was made for completingthe new administration building, one wing of which has already been finished. Thetotal amount granted was $1,400,000.THE WAR ON FRATERNITIESThe recent act of the legislature of Mississippi excluding fraternities fromthe University of Mississippi is being contested in the courts, and. If necessary,win be taken to the United States Supreme Court. The decision of the lowercourt is favorable to fraternities. An Associated Press dispatch from Oxford,Miss,, dated May 2, says:Legislation which would bar students affiliated with Greek-letter fraternities fromadmission to state educational institutions is violative of the fourteenth amendmentto the constitution of the United States and at variance with the constitution ofMississippi, according to a decision handed down here today by Special ChancellorLamb, In the case at issue, a test suit, W, P. Waugh was denied admission to thelaw department of the University of Mississippi because he refused to sign a pledgeof non-afHIiation with a college fraternity. Laws making this requirement werepassed at the last session of the legislature. The case will be appealed to the supremecourt.An article in the March ATA Rainbow says that the abolition of fraternitiesat Mississippi "has by no means been a benefit to the university", because theenrollment has decreased about 20 per cent, college spirit is at a low ebb, toa great extent the interest of alumni has been alienated and their supportwithdrawn, and the student body is divided into cliques which fight eachother bitterly, even in the Y. M. C. A.According to the latest advices, the bill that was Introduced in the legislatureof Texas, to prohibit the existence of fraternities in state institutions,was not reported out of the committee to which it had been referred; thesimilar bill Introduced In the legislature of Ohio was reported back fromthe committee to which it had been referred, with the recommendation thatit be Indefinitely postponed, which report, on a. viva voce vote, was adoptedby a large majority; the similar bill Introduced in the legislature of Wisconsinwas, by a vote of 57 to 42 in the assembly, indefinitely postponed, andlater a resolution providing for an investigation of fraternities in the universitywas indefinitely postponed, but afterwards the assembly, by a voteof 46 to 28, decided to reconsider its action on this resolution. The outcomeof the introduction of a. similar bill In the legislature of Minnesota was unknownto the writer when this was written.The faculty of the University of Texas has voted that fraternities may notpledge or initiate students until they have passed one long session's work, thatmembers may not board in chapter houses unless they pass in at least fourfifths of their regular class-room work, and that In every chapter house thfereshall be a resident member who shall have received the approval of a facultycommittee. Discussing the' matter. President Mezes said on April 23 :The inquiry has shown that the scholarship of fraternity members is below theaverage; moreover, in the opinion of the faculty, fraternities intensify, social discriminations,are a prolific source of student dissension, have allowed themselves tobecome the medium of most of the extravagance of student life, and tolerate ^"rushing"methods that are at once absurd and harmful. On the other hand students havea right to organize in friendly groups and fraternities have been useful in buildinghouses serving as college homes, in officially cherishing decent ideals, in promotingfriendly intercollegiate acquaintance, and in keeping their alumni in helpful touchwith the university.The faculty does not favor the immediate abolition of fraternities and sororities,because they contain potentialities of usefulness and because their abolition wouldnot eradicate and might not seriously diminish the evils now exhibiting themselvesin part through these organizations; furthermore, to reform them seems possible, andfinally, to abolish them upon the first Organized complaint before a chance to reformhas'been given would be manifestly unjust.The regulation of fraternities is necessary, in the opinion of the faculty, becausethey, affect the-social and moral welfare of the student body, and because without