Page 34 - 1918 October - To Dragma

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 329

movement, formed of people with similar tastes and was, in effect at
least, a temporary organization just of the sort that has given birth
to many a Greek letter chapter.

I f the girls who entered into the movement had given them-
selves a week or two longer to think about it, I seriously doubt i f
there would ever have been a movement. The enthusiasm of undis-
ciplined youth simply suddenly fanned the flame of extreme indi-
vidualism of each into a blaze which burned fiercely f o r a short time,
but which everyone thinks has now burned itself out.

I n my reference to this strange spirit of bolshevikism which I
believe threads all through the thought and life of the University
people, I do not mean at a l l that even the majority of the students are
so infected, but that a sufficient number of them are to give a decided
tinge of color to the average of thought and action there. I t is, I
think, a case of the minority, and a rather small minority, succeeding
in giving a color to the whole.

There is, I think, a lesson f o r the Greeks in it all. The youthful-
ness of undergraduates results, naturally, in a youthful and more or
less sketchy formation in every activity of their lives. I found from
those whom I talked with that the sororities, through sheer thought-
lessness, have not carried out all the purposes of the organizations.
The episode has had a certain value in that it caused reflection and
new consideration of the purposes of the sororities. I found that it
was the spirit to actively strive to more f u l l y develop those purposes.
For this reason, the occurrence has not been without value.

The following letter, which appeared in the Daily Cardinal, the
student publication of the University of Wisconsin, on June 1, helps
to shed some light on the situation from the viewpoint of one outside
the fraternity world. I t is so strong and at the same time so appro-
priate that we feel it should be given as much publicity as possible.

COMMUNICATION

T o the Daily Cardinal: June I , 1918.

As a nonsorority girl, I should like to express my opinion regarding the
recent withdrawal of fifteen girls from the sorority life of the university.

The general understanding about the campus is that these girls have with-
drawn from their sororities in order to further the cause of democracy and
that they favor the abolishment of "Greek letter sororities."

Regarding sororities and democracy at Wisconsin I have much to say. One
of the most frequent comments that I have heard about Wisconsin is that we
are an extremely democratic school. This is my own opinion. Almost every