READJUSTING THE COLLEGES

Under the above caption a writer in the Yale Alumni Weekly refers to the recent inaugural of President Hopkins as indicative of a new spirit abroad in the land. The editorial follows:

"The times that were, when the college was cloistered in 'academic shades,' are no more. The college is not apart, but in the life of the people. So the future which faces the American people faces the American college. They and it are dwelling in momentous times. If the people must be in heroic mood, so must the college. The fact that we are in a land of peace, and the possibility that we may be able to keep out of actual or at least out of serious war, make a difference only in degree. We must together resolve on sacrifice. To be more specific, while town and gown alike must, it is probable, have military discipline and sacrifice, the college must do even more. What that is the new president of Dartmouth indicated in his inaugural, when he said in effect that the college must prepare to live a more disciplined existence. That is to say, luxury must give place to self-denial, and the man who comes to college with his easy path prepared for him must realize that he had a higher duty than to take full advantage of the sacrifice of somebody else. Instead of being wafted through the course on flow'ry beds of ease, every man will have to work out his own salvation, realizing at every point the importance and responsibility of even an undergraduate's existence. It will take time for this readjustment to come, but when it does, it will be best for all concerned. Perhaps the college man will take his sterner lot more grievously than does the individual out of college, and perhaps the readjustment will take longer for him. There will be some, no doubt, who will age to escape altogether the call of the new age—both in college and out. But they will not, in the larger understanding, be taking their part in the more serious life of the country that is unquestionably ahead of us."