Page 40 - 1912 May - To Dragma

TO DRAG MA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 159

year pledging system. Scholarship is always to be desired. H o w -
ever with rushing prolonged either openly or secretly f o r a semester
or a year, it appears that the scholarship of the sorority girl and
rushee must suffer. Are there not other ways of improving scholar-
ships than by this method? H o w do schools without sororities keep
up the standard of their scholarship. Perhaps it is wandering f r o m
the subject, but this seems to be a good place to question the advisa-
b i l i t y of the rules i n use i n some universities regarding the initiation
into sororities of girls who have failed to make credit. I n some
places a student may never be initiated into a sorority, i f she has any
failures to her discredit. Barbarous ruling, isn't it? Especially so,
when one considers that one-third of a l l students entering H i g h
schools or Universities w i l l f a i l at some time or other before gradua-
tion. Failure to make a credit is not a disgrace f o r there are legiti-
mate failures. Some Universities have recognized this and have de-
creed that students must pass in at least twelve hours work before
eligible to initiation into a sorority. I n the case of the illegitimate
f a i l u r e the individual w o u l d not be likely to make the required twelve
hours credit, and then the punishment is a l l i t should be.

Authorities and many sororities seem to feel that a decided ad-
vantage to be derived f r o m the sophomore pledge-day would be to
eliminate f r o m the enrollment of the universities the one-year g i r l .
T h e result w o u l d be either to force her not to attend at a l l , or, i f
she attends, to forego the pleasures of sorority l i f e , or else to complete
her college course. The theory is that after attending a college f o r
two years, hardly anyone would f a i l to attend the two remaining
years. I n some few cases, this might succeed, because there are a
few young women who attend college just to be initiated into a
sorority, but surely their number is limited. A n y abuse of the
sorority system is very noticeable, and the attention which this parti-
cular abuse has attracted seems to indicate a condition of more serious
proportions than really exists. Surely within the sorority itself the
situation can be improved, and thus removed f r o m the sorority a b i t
of serious criticism. The plea of the writer is f o r the g i r l who really
cannot attend a university f o r more than one year. There are many
desirable, serious-minded, young women who can do no more than
this. The value of their friendship, the influence of their character
ought not to be lost to the sororities. Many such girls would not
wish to attend a university f o r a year without belonging to some
sorority, feeling that it is an advantage in more ways than one, and
an advantage they should not miss. One year of university training
is better than none. I f the prospect of j o i n i n g a sorority w i l l bring
girls to a university, i t is not over-stepping the properties to say, use