Randolph Macon College - Helianthus Yearbook (Lynchburg, VA)

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then those who can run. jump, vault, etc., come attention. team; the record of the scores of both games has been carefully misplaced. The all-star team mentioned above is the flower of all four teams, since the mem- bers are chosen on account of both individual and team work. After Thanksgiving, athletics lie dormant — except for gymnasium classes — un- til the spring term, when en- thusiasm and class rivalry run high again on field day ; into a large share of popular Every phase of college life at Randolph-Macon condenses itself into an organization; whether, as some assert, the result is mechanical over-organi- zation, it is not the purpose of this article to argue. I he Young Organizci- Women’s Christian Association makes it her care that students tions. do not care- lessly relegate their religious life to a low place among their interests. Through this organization world-wide causes of char- ity, big relief movements, and the mission field find a voice to reach the student body ; in its committees the students find a field of un- selfish activity. That it is only a spoke in a big ma- chine and consequently life- less and mechanical is the 17

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criticism only of those who stand aside and look at it sideways. 1 here are two literary societies, the Franklin and Jefferson. Before so many organiza- tions crowded into the student life these societies were the organs of class spirit and social life. These functions have been taken from them, and theirs now is the struggle to keep a place among the more material activities for the cultural life of the college. The lack of general interest is discouraging, hut the earnest members can realize that the literary element they keep alive is a big force in making that to-morrow when Randolph-Macon will he an ideal institution. To keep abreast the times the college has a suffrage club, not militant yet, only quietly determined and sitting confidently on the beach until the rising tide comes in. With the moral and mental life of the students well cared for, the Athletic Association makes the physical side its chief interest. Every college has its castle in Spain, so Randolph-Macon has its Student Building; hut with the unselfish enthusiasm of the chairmen of that com- mittee who have worked faithfully with no hope of enjoying the attainment themselves and the desire of the whole student body turned to that one goal, it will not be long in Spain, but here on the campus. Its big auditorium will hold both students and townspeople at once, and every class and organization will have its private office. The broadest classification among the social organizations are the nine fraternities. They include among their number approximately one-fourth of the student body. They are preeminently groups that Fraternities offer to their members friendship bound fast by coin- age?, rnon interests and experiences, but they profess not to Secret Societies, exist for the purpose of friendship alone, but to give to each girl the opportunity of losing her individual self in working for the common good of the fraternity; this “common good” is a high reputation among all those connected with the college. Whether fra- ternities are undemocratic or not is a question that is again not in accord with the purpose of this article to discuss ; that here they strive not to be, is apparent to every one. There is very little mysticism about fraternities at the present day. Coating, skeletons, clanking of chains, and ghostly cere- monies are becoming less and less a part of their organism, and, as they move farther away from secrecy, they more and more identify themselves with social movements of the day.