Page 43 - 1912 May - To Dragma

162 TO PRAGMA OF ALPHA 0MICRON PI

Why should there be an even balance between the sorority and
the non-sorority element? I f the sorority system is ideal for- one
g i r l , is it not f o r all? W h a t ground can a college stand on, which
puts a premium on the sorority girls? Is this not a direct impetus
to that greatest evil connected w i t h the system which we of the
sorority deplore no less than they of the non-sorority element? W h y
aggravate the difference which we would a l l gladly lose sight of.
S t a n f o r d is making of the sorority, i f she should accept this, an hon-
or society where the honor w o u l d be too o f t e n bestowed by personal
whim. The root of our being is the binding together of congenial
spirits. O u r ideals are the same as the personal ideals of every true
college woman—scholarship, loyalty, love, strength, womanliness.
The banding together into a sorority is a help toward these ideals,
not a bestowal of them.

Why refuse any college woman this help?

Unfortunately it is true that a sorority invariably tends toward
financial extravagance and there w i l l always be girls unable to stand
the financial strain, who are eminently suited to sorority fellowship
—suited o f t e n because of the discipline and self-sacrifice caused by
this very lack. Should not the ideal sorority be brought down to
the firm and unextravagant financial basis so that a g i r l could be
chosen on merit alone and could accept without having to weigh the
financial question. A sorority should be an aid financially to every
g i r l instead of an unsupportable load to the poor one. W e canot be
perfect fraternally while this stumbling block exists. I t has been
proven possible to so manage the finances o f a sorority that there is
no burden on the girl in moderate circumstances and that the poor
girl is not necesarily excluded. We look for a time when extrava-
gance w i l l be r i g i d l y excluded as a drawback and not indulged i n
in the spirit of emulation.

SLANG

A N D while we are discussing extravagance, there is another branch
* * than the financial which is threatening seriously the college
woman of today in general and the fraternity woman in particular
—the extravagance of slang. O f all places on the face of this globe,
one where pure E n g l i s h and an elastic vocabulary should flourish, a
the university. But how often are our sorority luncheons a veritable
babel of tongues and the outsider invariably requires frequent trans-
lation. T h i s has spread to the class room and even to the professors
chair until instead of leaving college with the great culture and ad-
vantage of a beautiful and elastic language we leave i t w i t h one f u l l