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Page 29 text:
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and it remained unchanged for several years after McCosh ' s resignation. He at- tempted to loosen the curriculum and change the emphasis from classics to broad liberal subjects. He succeeded in this to a great extent, thus eflFecting the first major change in curriculum in over a century. Cries of country club were aired throughout Patton ' s term, and not without reason. The ditty which went: ' Tis better to have gone and loafed Than never to have gone at all. was in wide circulation at the time. It was almost impossible to flunk a course. Things got so bad that when the administration threatened to raise the requirements in an Economics course, a small riot broke out. The country club theory received a further boost by the workings of the club system. The clubs, by now, were well established. However, there was a cut throat method of elections, and many even refused to join the clubs rather than be- come a party to such a system. The social emphasis put on the clubs assumed an un- due importance. The clubs almost ruined themselves through their actions in this period. Hazing, too, played a big part in un- dergraduate life. Freshmen were the par- ticular victims of upperclass pranks. A favorite trick was to place a freshman on the parapet of the library and then throw snowballs at him from below. When one freshman was almost drowned in the canal as the result of a hazing, the time for cor- rective action was ripe. The undergradu- ates met in Alexander Hall, of their owti volition, and voted to stop further hazing. The freshmen were still forced to abide by certain rules of conduct, though; they could not appear on the street after nine o ' clock, nor wear a fedora, nor smoke a pipe! At the time that hazing was being settled, the great battle with Pawnee Bill took place. PaA -nee Bill ' s Wild West Cir- cus was parading through town to dram up a following before going out to the cir- cus ground. The route passed by two blocks lined with Princeton students. Some- one threw a rock which hit a cowboy named Big Mouth. He lashed out with his whip, hitting several students. This started a free- for-all for which the students were mys- teriously prepared. The circus crew was scattered, but rallied for a charge in the best wild west fashion. The students ' line held, though, and Pawnee Bill retreated to the circus grounds under a shower of rotten eggs and cannon crackers. The current was going strong against the cou ntry club tide in other respects. The honor system blossomed in 1893. It was a success from the start. In one of the few cases of an early violation, one man was seen furtively glancing at notes. The president of his class leaned over and said, Tear up your paper and flunk this. He did. The students were beginning to have a greater voice in college affairs. Already the Princetonian was a highly respected organization. Its editorials had a deep ef- fect on both the faculty and the students. Student government developed, due partly to the urgings of the Prince in the nine- ties. Class organization came first, to be followed later by more imiversal under- graduate governing boards. ' IX- While the change in undergraduate life was taking place, the position of the graduate student was likewise coming into consideration. The faculty had long en- visaged a separate graduate school, the functions of which would, however, corre- late with those of the general college. To achieve this end, Patton sought to increase the endowment. It was at this time that Andrew Fleming West espoused the grad- 25
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Page 30 text:
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uate college cause, for he was Patton ' s chief emissary in the campaign. The drive went well for a time, and plans for a school to be built in the quadrangle where McCosh and Dickinson Halls now stand, were drawn up. However, when the silver-tongued ora- tor, William J. Bryan, began to threaten eastern finance, the alumni closed their purses. The campaign fell short of its ob- jective, and the graduate school issue lay inert for another ten years. On October 20, 1896, scholars and representatives from all over the world convened at Princeton. The Sesquicenten- nial Celebration was about to begin. For three days they held forth in Alexander Hall. The nights were enlivened with alumni parades and dinners. On October 22, Grover Cleveland came to Princeton to receive an honorary degree and gave a speech. President Patton then arose and an- nounced that ... what has heretofore been known as the College of New Jersey shall in all future time be known as Prince- ton University. Thus, Princeton did at last achieve in name what in fact it had been for almost two decades. In 1902, a bitter conflict arose be- tween two elements of the trustees over the curriculum. One group favored a cer- tain restriction in the selection of courses which would tend toward specialization. The other element favored continuance of a broad, unorganized manner of selection. President Patton favored the latter posi- tion, and when the majority of trustees backed the specialized plan, a dead-lock developed. Finally, David Jones ap- proached Patton on behalf of the trustees and suggested that he resign. Patton con- sidered the choice for a while and then gave way. The trustees turned at once to the selection of a successor. Their choice this time fell upon a lean, bespectacled, popu- lar professor of jurisprudence, Woodrow 26
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