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YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY
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EDWARD VAN INGEN, ’91S.,....0ccee- New York,
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EDITOR.
Lewis S. WELCH, ’89.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR.
WALTER CAmp, ’80,
ASSISTANT EDITOR.
E. J. THompson, Sp.
NEWS EDITOR.
PRESTON KUMLER, 1900.
ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER.
BURNETT GOODWIN, ’g9 S.
Entered as second class matter at New Haven P. O.
NEW HAVEN, CONN., May 9, 1900.
CRITICISM OF A PRIZE AWARD.
The News feels called upon to express
the undergraduate sentiment in regard
to criticisms of the recent Ten Eyck
contest which have appeared in the
ALUMNI WEEKLY. It is this: that as
it is well enough to criticise public
speakers as one would criticise rowers
or football players, so on the same
principle it is wise to refrain from dis-
claiming the Ten Eyck winner’s right
to his victory as one would refrain from
publicly objecting to the election of
a football or crew captain. Both the
Ten Eyck winner and the athletic cap-
tain are selected by competent judges.
Some may take exception to the state-
ment that the Yale Faculty are compe-
tent judges, which the News most cer-
tainly does not;. but assuming that they
are not competent, there are nicer ways
of emphasizing this point than by slight-
ing persons who certainly do not de-
serve it. It is not the judges you hit
by sttch criticism. Undergraduate Yale
is in hearty accord with the decision
as rendered by the Faculty.—Yale News |
Editorial.
We regret that the News has so far
overlooked the important fact in the
TenEyck prize discussion. A’ con-
siderate fear of injuring personal feel-
ings has entirely obscured an issue of
the very greatest importance to the entire
University. To remove, however, the
personal equation, let again be said,
what already has been said in these
columns as emphatically as possible:
namely, that the essay, which won the
prize, was an essay of literary merit so
great as to be unusual in certain re-
spects, and that it was presented to the
audience in College Street Hall in a
very creditable way. Every one agrees
to this statement, and, what is more,
everyone agrees to another statement,
namely, that it was not an oration.
That it could, in this form, win the
prize, is a great tribute to its literary
excellence and to the favorable impres-
sion made by its author. And when
it is claimed, that to emphasize the
point, that the TenEyck winner of this
year did not present an oration, is to
make any reflections on him or on his
essay, we beg to say most respectfully
that the contention is not reasonable.
The College has been left in doubt
as to what the Faculty construe to be
the object of that contest. There has
been uncertainty before. The fact that
a gentleman of Mr. Gleason’s ability
presented a literary essay instead of an
oration—and we know no reason to
doubt that he would have done just
as well with a pure oration as with an
essay—indicates just how far afield have
been many former decisions of the com-
mittees and the judges. It is now in
order to make a protest and it is a par-
ticularly happy time to make it. If the
winning piece had been of inferior in-
tellectual or literary quality, it would
have been very different.
The comparison chosen by the News,
of the election of an athletic captain,
is not well considered. The athletic
captain is chosen after he has run the
gauntlet, day in and day out and sea-
son after season, of the most relent-
less comment and criticism. When all
has been said against him that is pos-
sible and he is not broken by it, but is
stronger, then he is selected to lead.
The process of preparation, through
these fires, attests his fitness. And he is
to be supported because the fortunes of
his college are in his hand. But it is
not a personal matter. It is the high
and compelling necessity of loyalty,—
the community’s care for its future.
On the other hand, the decision of the
TenEyck prize contest closes up, so to
speak, a season of work, and, what is
more, sets the standard for those who
are to come after. If the standard set
by the judges is such that everyone is
left in doubt as to what the contest
calls for and what Yale’s idea of public
speaking is, or, if to many it seems to
be made clear that Yale public speaking
is a matter of literary excellence rather
than oratorical power, then we can con-
ceive of no issue of more importance to
the whole University. And we beg to
remind the News and its constituency
that that issue is not presented, until the
decision. is made. If public comment
on the speaking is forbidden after the
decision, then there can be no comment
or criticism. Will this promote power
in Yale platform work?
The News, unintentionally, we are
sure, leaves an impression in regard to
the criticism of the Faculty as judges
for such a contest, which is not in ac-
cordance with the facts. The criticism
of the judges began some college gen-
erations gone and has continued ever
since. The WEEKLY took it up a month
or more ago. The criticism will con-
tinue as long as the system is kept up.
What we most regret is the disposi-
tion to consider the winning of a prize
of such importance as the TenEyck, a
personal matter, whose meaning and re- .
lation to the University is not to be
considered. Woe to Yale training for
life when this is so. When a man goes
on the stage, he goes before the public,
and whether he wins or loses, he is a
subject of public interest, and hence of
public criticism,—provided he is good
for anything. A lock at the men who
came on the platform at College Street
Hall at the TenEyck prize contest this
year, did not give the impression that
they were unduly sensitive to proper
comment on their work, and we do not
think that any healthy Yale con-
testants in any kind of an event are
thus sensitive. The other contestants
of course concur in the decision and
would undoubtedly prefer that it should
not be discussed. But that isn’t the
point. It would be very much easier,
of course, to say to them all that they
did very well and to express only
pleasure over the award. It is very
much more to the point, however,
to find out what this is all about,
and try to point the matter towards more
definite results for the good of all Yale.
This we shall continue to do according
to our best ability, We hope that the
News will some day use its great influ-
ence directly upon these matters of the
highest importance in the scheme of
Yale education.
THE SOCIETY REPORT.
The report of the Conference Com-
mittee on Sophomore societies, which
was printed in last week’s issue of the
WEEELY, is, unless all reasonable signs
fail, an important and conclusive chap-
ter in one of the most interesting rec-
ords of undergraduate life at Yale. It
practically brings to an end,—for it does
not seem possible at this writing that
anything can prevent the final ac-
ceptance of the report and the execution
of its recommendations,—a system whose
mistakes have been growing clearer for
a number of years and which had at last
reached a point where a healthy com-
munity could not longer tolerate it.
That the students themselves have ef-
fected this change through a confer-
ence and final agreement of parties on
the two sides of a warm controversy,
and that they have not sought or re-
quired the aid of either Faculty or
alumni, is about the best thing that can
be written about the Yale community
of these last years of the century. It
is a tribute to its wholesomeness, to its
general loyalty, to its vigor and to its
reasonableness, which it was almost too
much, even the most hopeful said, to
expect.
The University and the outside press
and, indeed, all voices, have been silent
for these last two months, while the
committee have been conferring. It was
the one desire of all hereabouts to see
every obstacle removed, which would
endanger the spirit of mutual confidence
and concession. Now the matter comes
again before the public, but apparently
in its settled form.
Some will find that the reform has
not gone far enough; others will criti-
cise this or that detail. The plan recom-
mended by the committee is probably
not ideal, but it comes near enough to
that to make any material criticism of
the plan ill-considered. The minimum
number in the Junior societies to be
is not so great as most people want to
see, but the maximum number is a rea-
sonable one, and unless both the spirit
and the letter of the agreement are vio-
lated, which we think is scarcely pos-
sible, the maximum will be reached in
the near future and the three societies
will take in seventy-five men. Of
course it is possible that, under this
condition of things, a fourth society on
a competitive basis may be established.
Some objections to forming an ad-
ditional society, which exist while the
smaller societies are in Sophomore
year, disappear with these smaller
societies in Junior year. As to the fra-
ternities in Sophomore year, it seems
reasonable to expect that a fourth
one will enter the field in the near fu-
ture. This will raise the total number
of social opportunities of Sophomore
year to more than twice what they are
now.
However the details may work out,
the main object of the change has been
accomplished. Equal social opportuni-
ties are given to the largest number
possible and conditions favor rather than
threaten the social development of men
who come to Yale unknown.
»-wy-
> a ae
The meeting in the interest of a public
bath house, arranged by the Neighbor-
hood Club of Yale Hall, carried out so
thoroughly and so successfully on Fri-
day night, is only another indication of
the wholesome, reasonable, vigorous and
manly way Yale’s Christian work is
carried on. Yale Hall, codperating with
the best residents of the locality, is mak-
ing the part of New Haven in which it
is situated a better place to live in, and
is working substantial advantage to those
in whose behalf educated men are called
upon to give their intelligent and dis-
criminating and not condescending aid.
We take great pleasure in printing in
full this week the essay of Mr. Arthur
Huntington Gleason, Yale 1901, which
won the TenEyck Prize. This is done
not only because the competition was
the subject of so much and such un-
usual interest this year, but because of
the intrinsic merit of the piece itself.
YALE Law SCHOOL,
For circulars and other information
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Prof. FRANCIS WAYLAND,
Dean.
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