1903-04 Volume 28 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

I70 THE SCROLL.The system itself is neither inherently perfect, nor inherentlypernicious. A chapter may drift from its standard ofwork, and become a crowd of sports and loafers. Thecharge has been made that chapter life encourages this; butthat is no more true than that trade encourages cheating.In a poor chapter, men will send freshmen to class to takenotes; they will devote themselves to a good time at thecost of work. That is not fraternity, but degeneracy. .Ayoung instructor who is loyal to his chapter will be especiallysevere, rather than lenient, with his young fratbrothers.It has been charged that the fraternities are a perniciousmonopoly of social affairs. Any combination may grow beyondits legitimate field, and become a trust. But a fraternitywhich has forgotten its 'noblesse oblige' is not ourbest type. At many a college there is feud between fraternityand 'barbarian' elements. Much of this hostility isunreasoning. Many a freshman who hears a classmate revilethe 'conceited, frats' lives to see that man crown hissenior year by joining or forming a new crowd, strugglingfor recognition. One great American university today excludesthe Greek-letter fraternities; yet Princeton is notwithout her societies, her dining clubs, her coveted distinctions,and her 'hat-band' cliques and problems. The proposalof authorities at Toronto to lease land for chapterhousebuilding has been opposed by Canadian writers whocontend that only public meeting places should be allowed.This opposition rests on a fallacy. Any one may found asociety to his liking. The chapter is only one sort of naturalorganization. It can do things for men that larger unwieldygroups cannot accomplish.It has been claimed that fraternity life makes a disunitedcollege. Cornell, with twenty-one chapters, is a living refutation.A mass will not be less coherent because its atomsare grouped in molecules. The best chapters realize thatthey are a part of their college, and not apart from it.Through the chapters a faculty can control the studentbody, for no student willingly dishonors his fraternity.Hostility to fraternities is directed chiefly against thesecrecy which surrounds most of them. Nearly all have asecret grip, motto, ritual and passwords. Some keep theirpublications secret. This feature of mystery has a certaincharm. A degree of business privacy is any man's right.