William Raimond Baird

“ Instead of fraternities causing a waste of money, they cultivate a spirit of economy, and their existence actually tends to lessen the sum total of college expenses. Their oaths, far from being immoral and profane, are necessary safeguards, and their discussions promote the formation of deliberate opinions instead of blind allegiance. We claim for the fraternities that they fill a necessary and important place in college life, and supply a lacking element in the student’s course, and that they are a help to their members, and a valuable and efficient aid to good college government. ”

“ Has not a good man said, “Behold how good: and pleasant a thing it is for brothers to dwell together in unity”? The fraternities have become the exponents of the doctrine proclaimed in the Psalmist’s sentence. The fraternities are outside and foreign in no sense but in that they are not under the control of the college authorities. How many are the homesick students weary with study whom brothers encourage with kindly words to persevere! ”

“ Because the founders of our colleges in their wisdom have provided for extensive courses of study, for supplemental studies presenteel by means of the literary societies, for scientific and other associations; but they have one and all neglected to recognize the fact that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy;” that there is and should be a social side to every student’s nature; that college life should consist of something more than a study of dead Greek roots, mathematical puzzles, or investigations into the structure of obscure polyps and long-named fossils. ”

“ Would not the opponents of the societies themselves cheerfully subscribe to such a doctrine? If they would not, they certainly do not come to the discussion in a fair spirit. If the college authorities dread the actions of the fraternities, as they seem to do, let them demand, when a fraternity seeks to extend its organization to their institution, that the promoters of the enterprise shall lay before them the object of the order as stated in their own constitution. ”

“ If, while in college, students are provided with more money than thcy need they will waste it in individual cases, whether they belong to fraternities or not. Is it not better for the wealthy student to spend his superfluous income in a handsome badge, in beautifying his chapter home, in helping needy friends, or in assisting the chapter library, than to spend it in fast horses, drinking, or worse? He has at least something more tangible for his money than a weak stomach and a sick headache, which he would be apt to acquire in disposing of his money through the usual channels. ”

“ We are much mistaken if they do not thank you warmly for your very rigor. Pursue the usual course, and you raise a storm of indignation, from the smart of an unjust action, which sooner or later will burst upon the college to its decline and decay. ”

“ In country colleges, where living is cheaper, the total expenses will not amount to more than one-half that sum. The practice of living in clubs, which the fraternity system encourages, not only causes the students to save money, but really reduces the lodge-room rent to zero, and the running expenses of a chapter come to as near nothing as well could be. It doesn’t look as though the fraternities cause a waste of money in view of the above facts. ”

“ The fraternities are not selfish; they are not aristocratic clubs; no man was ever refused admission on account of his poverty; and it fosters kindly feeling and earnest appreciation between poor students and their richer classmates when they belong to a common lodge, where without it they would inevitably separate into cliques divided by money lines. The expenses incurred by a fraternity man are comparatively light, and much depends upon the size and location of the chapter. ”

“ We say to the college faculties, use the fraternities instead of abusing them. The proclaimed objects of the societies cannot degrade, and we have shown that a tendency to depart to vicious practices may be checked by an appeal to the societies themselves. If all fails, expel the students, break up the chapter, and explain the circumstances to the fraternity authorities. ”

“ It may be said that false pride will cause a student to use funds in emulation of richer college mates which could he put to better advantage. We say that such pride would cause the same results were the fraternities not at hand to act as disbursing agencies. Then again we have seen poor students helped in many ways by fraternity mates, and we are sure that their aid would never have been offered or received if the bond of a common brotherhood had not drawn giver and receiver together. ”

“ We have seen fraternity men, however, going directly against their chapters, and never knew them to be thought the less of for it. we have also seen the “neutrals” in a class giving their votes without thought or reflection to the first clique that asks them and uses a little flattery in the process. If there are to be parties and sides, which have the better motives for taking partisan grounds? Of the anti-secret societies it is sufficient to state that they always vote solidly, right or wrong. ”

“ Not having seen the pledges of all the fraternities, we can only speak for the most extended and widely known of the societies. The strictness of the promise given is of all degrees. The pledge consists generally of a declaration that the candidate will not reveal the actions or intentions of the order, that he will conduct himself with kindness and courtesy to all, that he will aid his fellow-members in whatsoever ways he conscientiously can, and that he will obey the constitution. ”

“ At Princeton, where the mention of a Greek-Letter society would cause the president to start in suspicious horror, troubles are continually arising from the suppression of the students’ rights. Admit a few of the best fraternities, the causes of trouble will disappear and the societies themselves will exercise a discipline more severe than Scottish divine ever dreamed of, and far more efficient. We never hear of midnight pistol practice at Union, Dartmouth, Rochester, Yale, 0r other colleges where the fraternities supplement the college government, and are wisely and judiciously encouraged. ”

“ Can this result, however, be charged to the fraternities? The bad will creep in everywhere, and seek to use good associations for evil purposes. Are missionary societies to be condemned hecause occasionally the treasurers leave the country with all the available assets? Let us show college authorities the remedy. If a chapter or part of one shows a tendency to evil courses, call its members before you and show them the inevitable result of their conduct. The members must be unfit to rank either as students or gentlemen if there is not an immediate change. ”

“ In some cases this pledge takes the form of an oath before witnesses, and in others it is simply a promise made on the honor of the candidate. There seems to us to be nothing profane and immoral in this. Every association for any purpose whatever must have some guarantee from its members. Now contrast this type of pledge with that used by the anti-secret society and we see that their bond is one of hate, which tends to separate classmate from classmate and destroy all harmony in the students’ organizations. ”

“ We admit the fact that, at a few institutions, individual chapters within our own experience have departed from the practice of the principles enjoined upon them, and entered upon a career of open debauchery or secret vice. ”

“ But these things are not due to the fraternities’ existence, but side issues of the literary or other societies’ methods. If the politician’s arts are introduced, we assert that they would be so introduced if the fraternities never existed, and point for proof to colleges where they do not exist, and where we sometimes hear of debates being broken up by pitching the constitution out of the window and causing the chairman to follow. ”

“ The first, and most prominent point advanced against the societies is their secrecy. Let us see in what this secrecy consists. As we have seen in the preceding chapters, the members wear conspicuous badges and sometimes showy colors; they publish catalogues and issue journals; they associate together in the class-room, the lecture-room, the chapel, and the dormitory; they build halls which indicate their unity and association, and their meeting places are known to all. ”

“ Lastly, it is claimed that the oaths which the initiates are required to take for admission into the societies are profane and immoral, and blind the conscience to a just perception of right and wrong. ”

“ Have the fraternities a right to live? We answer “Yes.” The dreadful secrecy we have shown to be but a convenient peg upon which to hang imaginative abuse; we have shown that instead of demoralizing and degrading their members, the Greek-Letter fraternities put before them high purposes and noble examples; that instead of being foreign bodies, hostile to the college spirit and culture, they are friendly allies, and only foes to dry-as-dust policies seeking to reanimate literary societies which 11aveoutlived their usefulness. ”