Manhattan College - Manhattanite Yearbook (Riverdale, NY)

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CATHOLIC COLLEGE STUDENTS understanding of the purpose and functions of the federation within the i en of every Manhattan man. Through an extensi e pubhcity campaign carried on in the Ouadraugle and through the meetings and bulletins of NFCCS Week held in February, an attempt was made to make the campus aware of the im- portance of intercollegiate activity. Senior Delegate Frank Malley led these activities on the campus and also served as New York Regional Recording Secretary. He was aided by Junior d elegate John O ' Leary and William Harrington, alternate delegate. The interchange of ideas and experiences was carried on at monthly regional meetings of metropolitan colleges who are members of the N. F. C. C. S. Among the colleges that served as hosts for the regional gatherings were Mount St. Vincent, Siena. St. Rose, St. Elizabeth ' s, St. Peter ' s, the College of New Rochelle and St. John ' s. To collect and distribute the vital informa- tion that is gathered on various campuses, national, regional and local, commissions ha ' e been started most successfully. Here on the Riverdale campus, we have the National Commission on Student Government, and the Regional Commissions on Christian Doctrine and Labor. These latter two organizations function through our Catechist Society and Leo Labor Club respectively. Manhattan ' s delegates have been most suc- cessful this past year in representing the students in national and international affairs. In November, the local unit sponsored a petition to protest the unjust treatment of Archbishop Stepinac in Yugoslavia, and the protest was forwarded to the State Depart- ment. Later the entire New York Region followed suit, and as a body sent another protest. Junior and Alternate delegates O ' Leary and Harrington represented the student body at the National Student Convention held in December in Chicago. There they attempted to lay the foundation for a national student organization based upon sound. uni ersal Catholic principles. In carrying out the aforementioned pur- poses of the N. F. C. C. S., the federation is also planning the groundwork for an e en more important step — the training of real Catholic lay leaders. We need men to show the world that Catholicism is the answer to all world problems, and the National Federa- tion of Catholic College Students is the ideal means for preparing the leaders of tomorrow in real Catholic Action — the lay apostolate. O ' Leary mails Manhattan i protest on the treatment oi Archbishop Stepinac 165

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NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE purposes of the National Federation of Catholic College Students are fourfold: to develop satisfactory student government in Catholic colleges; to act as a medium for the interchange of ideas among these col- leges; to provide member colleges with ideas and experiences in fields of authentic Catho- lic Action; and to represent the Catholic student in national and international affairs. iVIanhattan ' s delegates to the N. F. C. C. S. this year were primarily concerned with car- ryini; out these high aims and bringing an 164

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COMMISSION ON STUDENT GOVERNMENT SINCE April, ly 10, when Manhattan Col- let;e assumed the responsibility of organiz- ini; the study ot undergraduate administra- tion of campus aeti ities, the chau-manship of the National Commission on Student Government has been located at the Ri ' er- dale campus. Handling over eight thousand pieces of correspondence, the Commission has acted as a national clearing house of student go ' ernment information during the seven years of its existence. Through a program of research, study, and preparation, the Commission is patiently working toward completing one of its pri- mary objectives, that of issuing a model con- stitution. The task of completing a hnal model constitutuin for student governments throughout the country being a difficult and time-absorbint; one, the Commission has been carefully studying and e aluating every fea- ture of the numerous Catholic college con- stitutions, utilizing worthwhile articles in secular college student constitutions, and carefully checking recent publications for new innovations in the student government held. During the past year, the Commission composed of Chairman John Bach, John J. McCarthy, John Brosnan, and Albert J. Coak- ley has published a revised draft of a pro- visional constitution as well as a revised edition of a bibliography on student govern- ment and parliamentary procedure. In March the group issued a ten-page Sur ' ey Report of student go ernment status today which was distributed to each chapter president and Faculty moderator in the country. 166