Furman University - Bonhomie Yearbook (Greenville, SC)

Page 20 text:

HTTtH Er BONHQM l£T% The Furman Council FRIIAPS the most significant piece of administrative reform advocated and carried out in the administration of President Poteat was the organization of the Furman Council in September, 1913. For years our President lnus been studying the various systems of student government in the larger universities and his ideas on this question have found full expression in the now firmly established Furman Council. The Council is a representative laxly of students who have practically the entire reins of government in their hands. All its members except one are elected by the students indirectly, for it has been decided that those students holding certain oflices of honor shall, ui o» being elected to these offices, l»ecome therewith memheis of the Council. This provision insures the Council’s being composed of those men who are leaders in tin school and have the esteem of their fellow-students. The Council is thus representative of the student body, and its actions are in reality the actions of the student community in a self-governing capacity. Those oflices which carry with them the honor of membership in the Council—for it is an honor—are the following: The Presidents of the Literary Societies, the Presidents and the Secretaries of the four classes, the Managers of the various athletic teams, the Kditors-in-Chief of The Bonhomie and Furman Echo, and the President of the Mess, the latter being the only member appointed bv the Faculty, and so far he has always held some other office to which the students have elected him and which would entitle him to a seat in the Council without the Presidency of the Mess. The jurisdiction and special duties of the Council were largely fixed by the circumstances which gave birth to it. At the December meeting of the Board of Trustees in Abbeville, 1912, the student body, through a committee, presented a petition asking the Trustees to re-establish inter-collegiate football iit Furman, football having been abolished some eleven years before by action of the Board of Trustees. The petition was granted and at a later meeting of the Board in June, 1913, when the subject came up for further discussion, Mr. II. J. Haynsworth moved the following: “Resolved, That the privilege of inter-collegiate football at Furman, voted at the December meeting of the Board of Trustees of Furman I niversitv, in 1912, will Ik continued at the discretion of the Board and on condition that the students themselves suppress and prevent hazing in all its forms.” On the afternoon of September 17, 1913, President Poteat presented this resolution to the members of the three upper classes and the conditions under which football was to be continued were accepted by unanimous rising vote.

Page 19 text:

TH C.H.TV s!ey W.fiMorfln P.W.Poyne vu Mixon A-L.Piek.Nw J. (2. A! en J.W. Wafts PT Astons H-P-Dnak J.d.VVrenn J-C.POW KHKina t.H. Henderson W.S. mpson 8.?Qomfc rcll C.fT ims F 8. Mobley M.Cf Parton Furmax Cornci 1.

Page 21 text:

ETthe- e onhomieT% The students having thus shown the desire to suppress hazing, the question naturally arose as to how they should go about it and the organization of the Furman Council was effected, its duties being defined as follows: First. To protect inter-collegiate football by enforcing the requirement of the Trustees that hazing be suppressed and prevented in all its forms. Second. To make and enforce rules for conduct of Freshmen. Third. To guard and conserve the common good of the student body in all matters pertaining to gentlemanly conduct. The Council felt it within its rights, since it had pledged itself to protect Freshmen, to demand that the Freshmen should obey any rules which it might see lit to impose upon them. The most important of these rules, and the one which the Council believes will be of greatest benefit to the Freshman himself, is that requiring Freshmen to he in their rooms at nine o’clock at night, unless they have a permit allowing them to go out, and such permits are given only once a week under ordinary circumstances. The officers of the Council arc a President, a Secretary, an Executive Committee, consisting of the President ex-officio and two members, and ten Proctors. Two Proctors are appointed for each ffoor of Montague Hall and two for each cottage. It is the duty of the Proctors to preserve order and report any violations of the rules of the Council. Formerly the relation of Council and Faculty was different from what it now is. At first, it was agreed that the Council might suggest penalties and recommend clemency or severity in the enforcement of the rules of the institution, but these suggestions and recommendations were subject to review by the Faculty as a whole, with whom rested the final determination of what the penalty should lx . On January 20, 1915, however, the Council having become dissatisfied with this method of procedure, a motion was passed that a committee be appointed to present a petition to the Faculty asking for more power. The petition presented was granted and read as follows: We, the members of the Furman Council, do hereby petition your honorable body to modify the present system of student government so that it shall be as follows: (1) That the Council he granted complete control of disciplinary matters. (2) That each finding of the Council shall be read out by the Secretary of the same at the first gathering of students in the dining hall after the finding is made. (3) That every man disciplined by the Council shall have a right of appeal to the Faculty. Further, in case of any reversal of the Council’s decision,