INSIDE AND OUT

At the meeting of the Associated Southern Yale Clubs, two speeches, one by President Hadley, the other by an undergraduate representative, illustrated two points of view on the much discussed subject of college democracy. President Hadley declared that the universities should be "national in scope and not represent the provincial viewpoint of a single district, Church, or class of society",--very much in the vein of Doctor Angell's talk a week ago. The class antagonism which explains many of the troubles in the outside world must not enter the colleges, if they are to play their part successfully. The other speaker showed that Yale was becoming more democratic, inasmuch as "approximately thirty per cent of the students are working their way through; the Captains of the baseball team, the football team, the track team, and the basketball teams are all self-supporting men." Both speeches have to do with college democracy; one represents the broad outlook of a graduate, the other the narrower view of the undergraduate.

The student is apt to look on the matter as essentially local. Class antagonism for him involves, perhaps, the club system, competitions and such phases of his life; especially is this true of large universities. College democracy is, to him, chiefly a question of how largely wealth and social position count in securing the honors esteemed by his fellows; of whether or not one "can come to Yale unless he is prosperous enough to pay an income tax, evade the Eighteenth Amendment and attend an expensive tutoring school."

A man like President Hadley, on the other hand, is interested more in what one institution, not one individual, thinks of another. College democracy means a complete understanding between a conservative New England university, a middle-Western State university and a small, Southern college. There is no danger that the undergraduate will ignore the phase of the problem that affects him every day; but that the broader aspect will escape him is likely unless his attention is called to it. College democracy means two distinct things; what President Hadley and Doctor Angell ask is that the student appreciate fully both points of view.