Page:The Fraternity and the College (1915).pdf/13



When a young fellow asks me to advise him whether or not he should become a fraternity man, or having himself decided that question in a general way wants me to suggest the suitable organization for him, I feel thrust into about the same position as I should be in were I asked to decide whether or not he should marry or were I delegated to choose one from a number of possible candidates for the proposed partnership. Since I have been asked at one time or another to solve both of these matrimonial dilemmas for my student friends, perhaps I should not hesitate to tackle so serious a problem as is that presented by the fraternity.

I believe that the college Greek-letter fraternity is an institution that has come to stay, and that on the whole it is a good one. Some state legislatures are attempting to decide the question as to whether or not Greek-letter fraternities shall be allowed in certain institutions, but this decision is properly a matter entirely for the educational institutions themselves. It is in no small sense an educational matter which belongs distinctly in the hands of the faculties and no more concerns state legislatures than the question as to whether students should be allowed to keep automobiles or bull dogs, or whether they should