NEW FACULTY REGULATIONS

What is believed to be one of the most drastic and far-reaching changes in administrative policy effected in many years was brought about by the vote of the Dartmouth faculty October 24 that hereafter readmission to Dartmouth be refused, to, men who have been once dismissed from College on account of unsatisfactory scholarship. The vote was taken after a careful consideration of statistics which showed that but one man in every four readmitted after failure eventually graduates and that very seldom does one of these men achieve a respectable scholastic standing, their work in general being of. such a quality as to constitute a drag upon the College.

In discussing the ruling President Hopkins said, "The combination of the evidence of the statistics in hand with the fact that due to the limitations of' its physical plant, Dartmouth has in the past three years been forced to reject thousands of applications for admission, made the action of the college faculty not only advisable but necessary. In common with most of the other colleges of the country Dartmouth has in the past provided a second chance for men who have once failed. Upon the basis of the records made by such men, however, we believe it not only unwise but unjust to continue the practice %at the expense of the rest of the college and by denying entrance to Dartmouth every year of men presumably worthy and well qualified."

Examination of the academic records of 219 men who were readmitted to college after one failure during the period 1911-1920 shows that 70 of the men were dismissed a second time on account of poor scholarship, and that 50 others left college voluntarily for the same reason. Only 42 of the men readmitted ever graduated and it is significant that not one of these did so with a good scholarship record. It is further significant that a number of the 42 men who graduated after readmission were enabled to do so only by reason of credits received for war service.

Of 57 men now enrolled who have previously failed and been readmitted only five have a creditable scholastic standing, 14 have fair records, and the marks of the remaining 38 are poor.

A further indication that the readmission of men to college after one failure is unprofitable and unreasonable is provided by the records of Associate Dean Husband, which combine the student's record of scholastic accomplishment with his record in the intelligence test given to freshmen when they enter college. Men who have been dropped from college because of poor scholarship have in general forecasted their own failure by falling in the lower of ten groups in the results of the intelligence test, and their records of intelligence, forcefulness, reliability, and personality, as kept by their instructors, have in the same manner been prophetic of their inability to do college work.

At the same time that the vote in regard to readmissions was passed the Dartmouth faculty adopted also the following recommendations made by a sub-committee of the Committee on Administration appointed last spring to determine what changes if any were necessary for the good of the College:

1—That all Delta Alpha activities in the dormitories and other buildings be prohibited, and that elsewhere they be confined to the hours of 7 a. m. to 5 p. m. on not more than two consecutive days.

2—That the freshman, class picture contest be abolished until such time as Palaeopitus shall formulate rules that shall be acceptable to the committee on administration, and shall give assurance that these rules will be observed.

3—That the question of curtailment or abolition of activities preliminary to initiation into fraternities be referred to the student Interfraternity Council for report to the committee on administration not later than January 1, 1922.

4—That the Athletic Council be requested to make every effort to shorten the baseball and basketball schedules.

5—That the attention of the committee on organizations be called to the fact that the vote of the faculty relating to the closing of dances on Saturday nights during Carnival and Prom is not being enforced; and secondly, that the late beginning of performances of the Players and the Musical Clubs is not only discourteous to guests and a source of inconvenience, but postpones to an hour unduly late other functions scheduled for the same evening.

6—That the committee on organizations be requested to make stringent rules for the chaperoning of house parties during Carnival and Prom and at all other times.

7—That a committee of five be appointed by the president to consider whether the number of points required for graduation should be increased, and to consider the general requirements and rules of attendance, and report to the faculty.

It was also voted that hereafter tardiness, half-cuts and egressions should not be reported.

Without doubt the faculty's ruling in regard to readmissions has been the cause of more comment than any similar action taken in recent years, and the following editorials from the Boston Transcript, the New YorkEvening Sun, and the Harvard Alumni Bulletin are typical of manner in which news of the ruling has been received.

DARTMOUTH PUTS UP THE BARS

(From the Harvard Alumni Bulletin)

Two new regulations which have just been announced at Dartmouth will be of considerable interest to all American colleges. It is intimated by the Hanover authorities that hereafter no student who has been dropped for deficient scholarship will be permitted under any circumstances to re-enter the institution. This new rule marks a radical departure from the usual practice in colleges. Almost everywhere the custom has been to give deficient students a second chance, provided, of course, there is some tangible evidence of a reformed attitude toward the curriculum on the part of those immediately concerned. The practice of according this leniency rests upon the assumption that lack of effort and not lack of brains is the chief reason why students find themselves warned, placed on probation, and ultimately dropped from the rolls altogether. A short contact with the harsh world outside, it has been believed, would ordinarily afford a sufficient remedy for this lack of industry and send young men back to college with a more serious view of life.

At Dartmouth they have made a careful study of this question, in the course of which the records of all second-chance students have been examined over a period of ten years. The results of this statistical analysis are illuminating, for they show that the great majority of the re-admitted students have failed to make good. The percentage of those who regained regular standing is small. Either the men were lacking in ability to do college work or they failed to acquire habits of industry during their periods of involuntary exile.

The other new regulation relates to the admission of students from other colleges. The number of men applying for admission to Dartmouth after having spent one or more years at some other institution has become so large that a policy of strict selection is now to be enforced. Hereafter only students of high scholastic rank in other colleges will be accepted. They must stand in the top third of their class or their applications will be rejected. This is a rather drastic requirement in view of the general practice, in vogue among colleges, of accepting any student who comes certified as having been in good standing at another institution. Dartmouth, however, having more applicants than she can accommodate, is now in a position to pick and choose.

EVIL DAYS FOR THE COLLEGE IDLER

(From the New York Evening Sun)

The action of Dartmouth College in refusing readmission to any student dropped because of poor scholastic standing, although a distinct innovation in the scholastic world, is quite in line with the trend of the times. That it will be imitated by other leading institutions in the near future is almost certain.

Already it has grown far more difficult than formerly to gain admittance to a first rate institution, and many colleges have rejected entirely the old plan of accepting a school certificate in lieu of entrance examinations. Year by year the number of applicants who are rejecteed becomes larger and larger. And since the oversupply of entrants obliges many colleges to limit the numbers of undergraduates, we may reasonably expect requirements even more rigid in the future.

This being the case, there will be no room on the campus for the youth who has "gotten by" the entrance examination, but who neglects his daily work. He must not keep another boy out. The tutoring school may make it impossible to refuse him admittance, but he will meet his Waterloo before the end of his first term.

Heretofore the college has been too lenient with students of this type. Many make it their chief aim to outwit the professors, to hang on with as little study as possible, to neglect their class room work and graze by in tests., and examinations. If perchance they "flunk out" they wait a term or two and then come back to repeat the same performance.

• In refusing readmission to such youths Dartmouth has made a step in the right direction. Every student should have ample opportunity to prove that he is capable of carrying on the work, then if he fails he should make way for some one else better prepared or more willing to take advantage of the opportunities offered, opportunities more appreciated now that they are found to be limited.

"The Quadwrangler" of the Boston Transcript commented as follows:

In case anyone wants to know his opinion of the matter, the Quadwrangler will say here and now that he thinks Dartmouth has done the sensible thing in ruling that men once separated from the college because of scholastic failures may not be readmitted. The decision is a clean-cut renunciation of the doctrine of the second chance to which we Americans are so generally friendly but it is also—and this is infinitely more important—formal notice to all who read and listen that Dartmouth means business when it declares that boys ought to go to college primarily for the purpose of obtaining an education.

"Unless conditions are immeasureably different from what the used to be, the average boy should have no great difficulty in keeping up with his classes. It is not hard to obtain a college degree. The process requires a certain amount of study "and conscientious effort. It does not require unusual intellectual gifts and it ought not to. Higher education should be open to any boy or girl willing to work for it and competent to appreciate it. It should not demand all of the student's time and it almost never does. But a college has a right to insist that a student give enough time to his lessons to learn them; in fact, it is a question whether it has a right to be satisfied with insisting on anything less. Our educational resources are not so abundant that we can afford to scatter them broadcast without considering whether the seeds fall on fertile or barren soil. There can be waste in education as easily as there can be waste in any other endeavor and the first is as reprehensible as the second.

"As far as Dartmouth itself is concerned the new ruling is a matter of simple, if somewhat belated, justice to the thousands who have seen themselves kept out of the college because the places they would like are already occupied by boys who haven't the good sense to seize opportunities within their grasp. Evidence that the step was desirable, probably inevitable, is furnished by the fact that not more than one boy in four makes good after being readmitted and even the one who makes good does not do so in any startling manner. We may regard it the part of chivalry and community decency to give a boy a second chance but in college, as in most other situations, the boy does not accept the offer in the exact spirit in which it is made.

"Indeed, from the strictly practical stand-point, it is not certain that we are ever doing a student a favor by readmitting him after he has once been tried in his studies and found wanting. The chances are that the elemental cause of his first dismissal was either an inability to do college work or an indifference and laziness caused by companions and environment. In the first instance he should not be allowed to go to college at all; in the second he will be much better off in changed surroundings and with new friends. In further pursuit of the same subject it might reasonably be asked whether the doctrine of the second chance is a good one to apply to mature men anyway. Don't we permit enough mistakes as it is? If a student does his work two-thirds right we give him his degree. Isn't that second chance enough for almost anyone? Certainly it is more second chance than he will ever be given when he settles down to the prosaic but necessary task of earning a living.

"This decision touching students who are flunked out is not the only sign that Dartmouth is taking full advantage of the strategic position its recent popularity has given it. Hereafter the way of the transfer will also be hard. The man who thinks he can get into Dartmouth via some other college will have to think at least twice. He will be accepted only if his scholarship record places him in the first third of his class and if he is under no discipline. Add to all this the announcement that a faculty committee has been appointed to consider the desirability of increasing the requirements for a degree and we have a situation which one of these days may relieve Dartmouth of a part of its lengthy waiting list, but will give it instead an enviable reputation as an institution where education is education."