Reed College - Griffin Yearbook (Portland, OR)

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REED COLLEGE ANNUAL -2- 1 9 1 5 ml STUDENT GOVERNMENT N accordance with the rather unusual amount of 1 freedom which was allowd Reed students, even at the very first, it was decided that their affairs could 8 be delt with in the most efhcient way by the stu- Z 0 dents themselvs, thru the medium of some sort of W self-government. Consequently in March, 1912, the men and women each chose three representativs who wer to formulate plans for student government. The personnel of this hrst council was as folloes: David Brace, president, Eve- lyn Fatland, Vice-president, Alma Button, secretary, Ada Mc- Cown, Marvin Howes, and XVilliam Boddy. At this time the precedent was set of electing as president and Vice-president the man and woman who receivd from their respectiv constit- uencies the highest number of votes. The Vice-president was also to act as president of the women students. The necessity then devolving upon the council was to de- fine what its responsibilities should be. It must be rememberd that at that time the student body consisted of but one clas with a membership of about fifty, so the college life which the coun- cil faced was extremely simple in comparison with that of the present time. But in laying down lines of action for themselvs and future councils the members had to foresee, as far as pos- sible, the situation as it would develop with the entrance of each succeeding clas, until the student body should be composed of its ful quota. The most concrete thing which presented itself to be done was the drawing up of a constitution, and for this purpose a special committee was appointed. Only one of the council members had any previus college experience, so the council enlisted the servises of Mr. Stahl, who had, a few years before, been on the Student Council at Bowdoin College. Constitutions from numerus colleges wer studied, and it was finally decided that the responsibilities of the Reed governing body should be threefold. It should develop thru all fases of college life the Tthonor principle? which had alredy been applied in examina- tions; it should hav a share in the management of the social life of the college; it should oversee all extracurricular activi- ties. It was thought that a small group of experienst students could work more efficiently than a larger, more heterogeneus body, so activ membership on the council was confined to three men and three women of the senior clas elected by the entire body of men and women, and one man and one woman as ad- visory members from the junior clas. Such a limitation of membership caused some opposition at the time, and even now freshmen feel at first that they ar the opprest Victims of an au-

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I701 REED COLLEGE ANNUAL -I- 1915 abroad. In athletics the Honor Spirit means fair play and sportsmanship in the best sense of the word. In student gov- ernment it imposes the duty of conscientius servis on the part of ost-holders, and a sense of interest in the welfare of the group on the part of individuals. We can hardly dout the value and wisdom of the adoption and development of honor as a principle in college life. Com- mon-sense seems to indicate that if students and faculty ar using the endowment and equipment of a college for the ends of scolarship, they wil get on better by working together than they wil by opposition. Tradition and experience tend to con- firm the notion that the ends of good-felloship in a group of people with common interests and purposes at best servd by frankness, forbearance, and sympathy. Tho primarily, perhaps, a matter of social significance, honor is not antagonistic to the interests of individuality. Honesty to self is, indeed, the first principle of honor; and the expression of the self-respect which this honesty engenders is the best way of impressing one's in- dividuality upon society. The important results of the Honor Spirit at Reed ar found not so much in tangible realities as in subtle atmosferic qualities. The substitutions of cooperation for distrust and suspicion on the part of students and faculty in the business of study ar not inimical to the advance of scolarship. In this as in the general social relationships those who hav had opportuni- ties of comparison say that in Reed College the bredth of the traditional gulf between faculty and students has been definitly lessend. The Honor Spirit has, of course, not yet attaind perfection as a force in social control. There ar some dissatisfactions, some misunderstandings, some difficulties of organized student life that honor has not obviated. The youth of the college, and lack of traditions make the matter of educating new students for ful Citizenship difficult. Time may remedy this. Every- thing possible has not been accomplisht in four years. The imperfections of translating the Honor Spirit into actions and motivs ar the best guarantee of its continued influ- ence. That its applications be comprehensiv of much, and that its meanings be ritten more deeply on the minds and harts of all who may become connected with Reed is the hope of all who kno what it has alredy done.

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WI REED tocracy, but by the time they become sofomores they get used to the system and find it les objectionable. The first council held 0th until May, 1913, and was largely occupied during that time in problems of organization. The succeeding council consisted of Arthur Hauck, president, Gladys Lowden, vice-president, Jean Wolverton, secretary, Donald Lancefleld, Annie Jordan Harrison and William Boddy. The advisory members wer Juanita Parker and Oscar Koenig. The problems faced by each succeeding council gro more and more complex, but the first constitution, with a few nec- essary amendments, has, on the whole, proved equal to the situation. The duties of the Reed council ar probably, in gen- eral, similar to those of other student governing bodies. Its members constitute a medium between the students as a whole and the faculty as a whole, to attend to student disci- COLLEGE ANNUAL .;. 1915 plin, oversee the development of new activities, and in general keep a stedy hnger upon the pulse of student life. Of course, in the last analysis there is no such thing as complete student government, for the final authority on any question which concerns the welfare of the college must, by the force of tradition in college administration, rest with the faculty. The Reed plan, being a cooperativ one, leaves such questions to be delt with on a basis of mutual understanding, and, so far, there has been no occasion for serius clash between student and faculty opinions. Arthur Hauck was re-elected president of this years coun- cil, and Elsa Gill was its vice-president. Edna Acheson was secretary, and the newly created separate offls of tresurer was fild by Glenn Johnson. The other members wer Grace Hays, Francis McCoy, Lowell Bradford, and Mary Brownlie.