Page:The Fraternity and the Undergraduate (1923).pdf/65

 overlooking of certain unessentials, and the recognition or real merit, saved to his fraternity one of the best men it has ever had.

Too often, in a coeducational institution at least, in looking a man over, the fraternity judges his fitness too much from the social impression which he is likely to make upon the girls. The fellow who wears the hand-me-downs picked from the stock in father's country store, has little chance with the sporty chap who runs a charge account at Capper and Capper's. The fear that the chapter's social standing might be damaged, or that some one might laugh at them for picking a "rube," has kept man a good fellow from getting a chance to show himself in the right light. It is a good deal easier to teach a young man where to buy his clothes and when to get his hair cut, than it is to teach him moral principles and intellectual alertness. The impression which a pledge makes upon the girls has very little to do with his usefulness and influence in the chapter.

Rushing is not going to be done very successfully if the work is left to one or two members of the chapter. It is true that some one must be in charge to plan the campaign, to direct the details, to invite the new men to the house, but the responsibility of seeing that the men are entertained, that they get acquainted with every member of the