Page 24 - 1914 September - To Dragma

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 323

becoming national organizations. Both have extended widely since
that decision, each having at present about twenty chapters. The
action of the trustees will come as a distinct shock to Wesleyan
women, because it will be almost impossible for them to think of the
college without these societies, which during more than sixty years
have been a vital part of the student life.

For more than half a century these organizations carried as
many as forty or fifty on their rolls at one time. Membership was
deemed a great honor, and such it was, because even to be considered
for membership meant that a girl must attain 8 0 per cent i n all
her studies. Even that high average did not always compass an
election. I f the girl happened to be a "special" student, no matter
how high her scholastic rank, her chances were only one in four,
because by faculty ruling only one-fourth of the membership might
be taken from that class of students. With the change from local
societies to national organizations, it came to pass that the member-
ship was even more limited, as the large-sized chapters were found
unwieldy. The rather recent decision to limit the numbers to
twenty-five members meant the introduction of other sororities, so two
other nationals, Zeta Tau Alpha established in 1 9 1 1 and Delta
Delta Delta installed in 1913, likewise fell under trustee ban. These
two have not been on the ground long enough to have left any deep
impress on the college or the community, but the killing of the other
two will mean as much to Wesleyan and her graduates as would the
wiping out of the Union and Miami "Triads".

The ruthless destruction of institutions and associations that date
back nearly three-quarters of a century cannot but do harm to a
college, whose welfare must necessarily depend to a large extent
upon the good will of its graduates. Wesleyan might well take
a leaf out of the experience of a sister college in the North, Wel-
lesley, whose founder, Mr. Henry F. Durant, saw clearly the
need for student organizations and at whose suggestion three so-
cieties were formed, two of them with Greek names. For a time
these fell under the ban, but after a few years' experience with an
unorganized student body, the faculty acknowledged its mistake and
not only restored the three societies, but arranged for the establish-
ment of three others. These six have built handsome clubhouses
on the campus and have become an essential part of the student
life, so essential, in fact, that an election to membership is almost
certain to insure a girl's return to college, even when she may have
made different plans. Commencement, too, finds the badge wearers
returning en masse, and when recently a seemingly cruel fate, in the
shape of a destructive fire, wiped out almost within an hour the