University Reform. 327 



not, except, perhaps, in Massachusetts, be re- 

 garded as one of the ends for which they exist. 

 While the student coming from New England or 

 any of the adjacent states is likely to be well 

 prepared to begin his studies at Harvard, the stu- 

 dent who comes from the West or from the South 

 is equally likely to be ill prepared. These dis- 

 advantages are now to a great extent compen- 

 sated under the regime of the freshman year, 

 and the circumstances by which they are occa- 

 sioned furnish a sufficient reason for retaining 

 that year as a period of probation, instead of 

 giving it up altogether, or of making it a part of 

 the regular university course. It should there- 

 fore, we think, be retained in its present form, 

 with an examination both at its beginning and at 

 its close, upon the latter of which the attainment 

 of matriculation should be made to depend. 



Our brief sketch of a university reform would 

 not be complete without a few remarks upon the 

 numerous police restrictions by which, at Harvard 

 and elsewhere, the American student is gratui- 

 tously harassed. 1 When the university under- 

 takes to prescribe the colour of the student's 

 dress, to determine when and where he shall 

 smoke his cigar in the streets, and under what 

 1 Statutes of Harvard College, ch. x., 101. 



