1905-06 Volume 30 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

I50 THE SCROLL.fraternities. These clubs are very exclusive and very clannish,aird they seek to monopolize to themselves what areconsidered the chief college honors. It is well known thatthese local societies are the ruling factors in the politics of thestudents in these two ancient institutions. The athletic interestsof Harvard especially have suffered from this cause foryears.THE author of the Independent article mentions, as thestrongest objection that can be urged against fraternities, thatthey have a tendency to weaken the spirit of college democracy.He makes a true observation in saying that they aremore aristocratic in character where the percentage of fraternitymen to the total student attendance is small. We entirelyagree with him also in holding that the only serious chargewhich can be brought against fraternities is that the fraternitysystem is not democratic. But we believe that the developmentof fraternities will remedy this. Many colleges are nowso well filled with fraternities that no worthy men remain outsidethe Greek pale, and, with the rapid multiplication ofchapters, all colleges will eventually be fully supplied withstudent brotherhoods. Statistics show that fraternities haveextended in the last few years more rapidly than in any formerperiod. Admitting that fraternities are undemocratic,and we frankly admit that this is true at many institutions atthe present time, we believe that it is only a temporary conditionat such places, and that in time every institution willhave all the fraternities it can well support. The fraternitysystem has by no means reached its full growth, and chapterswill increase in number as the demand for them shall arise.Educational institutions are growing with wonderful rapidity,but not faster than fraternities; and increasing opportunitieswill be offered to students to find congenial companionship inGreek-letter orders. If the time ever comes when there willnot be enough fraternities willing to charter chapters sufficientto supply the social needs of the students in any institution.