Yale University - Banner / Pot Pourri Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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THE BHDITER SURVEY ...POLITICHL THIHHIDG

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Fraternities . . . are they fraternal? ahiairs by a vote of 6323 to 37'Z,, and valued its sports coverage as adequate Q79Zj and accurate Q75'Z,j. The edi- torial department did not fare as well, however, for only 222, admitted that their opinions were influenced by edi- torials, and 78175 said that the News editors followed rather than led cam- pus opinion. Nonetheless, 602, said they read the editorials regularly. The Dramat has drawn 4029 of the undergraduates to its productions while the remainder gave interference with other weekend plansn as the primary reason for their lack of inter- est. Q3j The Senior Societies were in- dorsed as worthwhile , while both fraternities and Honor Societies were repudiated by a slim majority of un- dergraduates who felt that they do not justify their existence. In the question, Should Senior So- cieties be abolished? only a fifth answered in the affirmative, while when a similar question was directed toward other leading campus Hnon- business activities , Torch and Aure- lian went down by a 53-47 margin, and fraternities were denounced as neither justifying their existence Q52fZ, to 48'Z,j nor as producing the feeling of brotherhood for which they were founded Q75'Z9 to ZSZQQ. An inter- esting footnote is the fact that of the group which repudiated Senior So- cieties, 3 out of 4 also voted against Honor Societies, and 4 out of S against fraternities. Fraternity members, comprising 1379 of the university, do not seem en- tirely content with their lot. For the question, if you had it to do over again, and the opportunity, would you: QU join a different fraternity, Q25 join no fraternity at all, Q3j join the same fraternity? the proportions were-Q lj log,-425 2671,-433 642. !

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Political Party preference 502, 3l'Z, Ibis 2.52 0 l 1.715 s or Republican Democrat boeiaiist Communiyt, Independant The following section is an attempt to survey the leading political ideas ex- pressed by Yale undergraduates in response to the questions put by the Banner Survey, and to evaluate briefly the forces which tend to produce these ideas. QBefore beginning this discus- sion, the reader might ind it interest- ing to thumb back to the section on backgroundj As the presidential election ap- proached, Banner editors interviewed one of the major candidates, Mr. Wal- lace, and obtained comments from two others on the views expressed by the Third Party Leader. lNIr. Wallace opened his remarks with the statement that American students are 5 to l0'Z, more liberal than their parentsw, and, according to the Banner survey, 602, of Yale students agreed with him. hir. Taft cast a peevish eye at the source of the quotation and said HI have no idea whether they are more or less 1'aa'ical than they were . . . and Mr. Stassen commented: I agree as a whole that students are more liberal minded, but I do not agree that they support lXfIr. Wallace's position, and I do not consider Mr. Wallace's position to be a true liberal Stand. The findings of the survey would tend to support the interpretation of the meaning of the word Hliberall' as expressed by the two Republican candidates, for, while 602, stated themselves to be liberals, when it came to a choice between the extremes of Taft or Wallace, 77? expressed their preference for the former. QA few of the comments on this choice can be found in a cut later in this section? Mr. Wallace criticized American students for lacking the interest in politics shown by their European con- temporaries, and stated that he did not believe them to be as Upolitically aware as young Englishmen or Frenchmen. Mr. Stassen answered with a curt Yes to the question Do you feel that American students are as