• ^ DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 41 



No. 7. Opposed. 



"My Dear Mr. Graham : — Your letter in regard to literary societies' and 

 fraternities at M. A. C. is at hand and I hasten to reply. Four years as 

 a student and six years as a teacher in the college have given rae un- 

 usual opportunities for knowing about the work and the life that stu- 

 dents live at M. A. C. From this knowledge, permit me to say that I 

 am heart and soul in favor of more dormitories at the college and the 

 restriction of society houses to social and educational purposes. I do not 

 believe that a fraternity will ever take the place at M. A. C. that some 

 of the literary societies have filled in the past. Neither do I believe that 

 it is desirable for reasons of economy for the students, nor for democracy 

 of student life, that fraternities be fostered in your institution." 



No. 8. Opposed. 



From one who served on the Board of Control of a large university for many years, and had four 

 children members of these fraternities. 



"My Dear Sir: — I should not be in favor of the encouragement or ex- 

 tension of fraternity houses at our Alma Mater. Personally, I believe 

 that they are 'un-American/ as connected with our educational life. 



"They encourage loyalty to the fraternity rather than to the college 

 as a whole. 



"The fraternity bodies select recruits from young men and women of 

 wealth and social standing, and in that wa}'' destroy the democratic spirit 

 that should characterize student life. 



"They are expensive. Dues and social expenses are indispensable, so 

 much so that a poor student cannot afford to belong. 



"Some of the wealthier class of students have little ambition for study, 

 and are inclined to expensive and dissipated habits. These infect the 

 rest, especially the younger students to whom they are an example. 



"There are hundreds of young men working their way through the uni- 

 versity. In very few instances can they belong to a fraternity. They are 

 substantially in a class by themselves. They are excluded from the social 

 life of the university in a great measure. I think that fraternities tend 

 to build up this distinction, to divide the student body into 'Frat' and 

 'Independent,' and instead of a great democratic body, to divide the 

 students into small guilds or cliques, each working for itself and care- 

 less of the general good." 



No. 9. Opposed. 



"My Dear Mr. Graham : — Your request at hand, and will say that I ad- 

 mire the way the Board is going about the matter of detennining the 

 future social policy of the college. I believe this question to be of very 

 great importance, as the social atmosphere of an institution stamps itself 

 indelibly upon the individuality of its alumni. 



"M. A. C. has in the past been a democratic institution where the mass 

 of the student body came from the farm and the country town. Its 

 young men and women bring with them a profound respect for the moral, 

 the intellectual and the physical, born of the fertile soil from which they 

 spring. They bring with them wholesome material for the making of 

 truly great people. They are of a serious turn of mind and are looking 

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