rinted from the Volume of Proceedings, National Education Association, Boston, Mass., July, 1910 'Jvt-l A 4 (\^7 C" COLLEGE DISCIPLINE THOMAS ARKLE CLARK, DEAN OF MEN, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, URBANA, ILL. The greatest handicap in my experience to successful college discipline is the excessive number of rules laid down by the colleges for the conduct of students. Too many college officers feel that when an evil exists, or an erroneous custom prevails, the only thing necessary is to pass a regulation against the evil, or the custom, and the matter is settled. The real fact is that generally the more rules an institution has, the more difficulty the college officers find in maintaining good discipline, and in keeping the young people within bounds. It is safe to take for granted that young people of college age know in the main what is right and what is reasonable as to conduct, so that it is not necessary that every sin in the decalog, or that every violation of the law under the statute, should be named in the college catalog and the penalty for its violation attached. Rules often prevent individual action in specific cases. Every violation of good order should be taken up, looked into, and judged as if it were the only one of its sort. Rules often hamper such judgment. Many college rules are virtually a dead letter because they are difficult or impossible of execution, and the existence of such regulations can do nothing less than bring the whole system of college statutes into ridicule and disrepute. I believe, for illustration, that it would be a most excellent thing if college students did not visit saloons, for I have knowm very few students who were not to a greater or less degree injured by such a practice. It seems 44 njte, ho^rg^er, usually worse than useless, and in fact often harmful, for a college tx3 rtiake a rule prohibiting students from entering saloons, because it is so evidently a rule unlikely or impossible to be enforced. More than this, the very existence of regulations will frequently incite students to insubordination that would not otherwise have been thought of. “I’ve just discovered,” one freshman said to another, “that it’s against the rules to smoke in the quadrangle. Now, I suppose it will make me sick, for I don’t care much for smoking, but I couldn’t let a thing like that go by without having a try at it.” I am not arguing against regulations per se; some of course are necessary for the proper conduct of any business or insti- tution, but the fewer the better, and then only those which are absolutely necessary. The young person who enters college is on a different basis, and should receive different treatment, from the same person in the high school. He is more nearly an adult, and he should be treated as such. He is more inde- 557 558 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION [Higher pendent, more upon his own responsibility, and so far as possible he should be left to manage his own conduct and his own affairs. The more he can be let alone the better. This last statement does not mean in any sense that no one should know what he is doing. Much of the trouble that occurs in college — nearly all that occurred in my own undergraduate days — comes from the fact that rules more or less arbitrary and often foolish are made in the belief that such legislation will in itself correct any tendency to wander which the undergraduate may evince. Seldom is any effort made to keep an eye upon the young student, and to forestall any dereliction into which he may fall. The best way to manage the student guilty of misconduct is to look after him so personally and so carefully that he may be brought to account just before he has been guilty of the act that would subject him to discipline. This last statement may seem like a paradox, or an Irish bull, but I am sure that the most skillful disciplinary work which I have ever done in the ten years during which I have been a disciplinary officer has been connected with the things that never happened, because they were not allowed to. Granted that the college has made few rules, and that there is someone who keeps himself pretty thoroly conversant with what is going on, there will still be infractions of regulations, and necessity on the part of college officers to exercise authority. Youth is still young and irresponsible, and is quite as likely to be guided by impulse as by judgment. In my own undergraduate days, twenty years ago, when a young fellow had been drunk, had danced in a college hall, had carried away the campus fence to add fuel to the bonfire in celebration of Hallowe’en, or had backed the cannon into the sluggish stream that flowed thru the campus in order to show his disapproval of compulsory military drill — when he had done any of these things and was caught, he was brought before the entire faculty assembled in most serious session, and here he was tried. It is ^^rrowing experience, as some of us well know, and one not likely always to bring justice. A man may perhaps make a good teacher, or a good scientific investigator, without making a good judge. When an entire faculty deliberates on disciplinary matters there is likely to be too much talking, some wrangling, and uncertain con- clusions. The responsibility is too widely scattered, and the student and good order are sure to suffer. Disciplinary matters will be handled more satisfactorily to all concerned if put in charge of a small body composed of from three to five persons chosen because of their knowledge of student life and conditions, and because of their special fitness to give reasonable and sympathetic judg- ments on the cases that come before them. The members of such a com- mittee should be young, or should have once been young with the memory of that time still in mind. They should be broad-minded and above petty prejudices. They should still be interested in the things outside of books that interest normal, healthy young people — such as athletic sports and social Department] COLLEGE DISCIPLINE 559 pleasures. They should have backbone enough when an unpleasant thing has to be done, and ought to be done, to do it even tho it hurts some stu- dents, and some fathers and mothers. Ordinarily I should not consider it a calamity if neither women nor lawyers were on such a committee. Women are more often than men influenced by their prejudices or their emotions, and lawyers are likely. to insist upon a “legal” conviction. Conditions are such that a man should often be allowed to go free who has really violated a college regulation, while another man who cannot be proved guilty of any actual dereliction may yet clearly be proved a detriment to the com- munity, and should be sent away. In institutions where both men and women are in attendance I believe it will often be found of advantage for a different committee to pass upon the cases of discipline of women from the one which considers the cases of men. Men and women are so different, especially young men and young women, in the crises which matters of discipline bring, that I believe they may very well be handled by people of somewhat different temperaments. Men, for instance, I have found will almost always tell the truth about their own escapades, being careful, of course, not to bring in any of their compan- ions, but shielding themselves very little; while girls, under similar con- ditions, from sheer nervousness or terror, will often tell the most palpable untruths. Whether or not such a committee should be given absolute and final power, or should report its findings to the faculty, or to some higher power for confirmation and final action, will depend upon local conditions. Which- ever method is employed the findings of such a committee should virtually be final, or its power and influence will count for very little. In such a disciplinary committee as I have discussed the general manage- ment should be in the hands of a chairman who should be a man of experi- ence and judgment, well acquainted with students and student activities, and he should allow only such matters to come before the committee for trial as cannot be settled in some more amicable and satisfactory way. Cases requiring discipline may be reported to him either directly or thru the proper college officer. A disciplinary officer to be successful must have the confidence of both students and faculty. The faculty must feel that matters given into his hands will be dealt with squarely, and without delay. No college instructor wishes to be humiliated by having matters of discipline which he reports either ignored or treated lightly. Neither should he feel that he is com- promised if every student whom he reports for discipline is not found guilty. I have known college instructors who refused to report cases of alleged crib- bing, because of the fact that a student previously reported had not been found guilty by the disciplinary committee. It was not justice they desired, but conviction. Many instructors are annoyed by what they consider unnecessary delay in disciplinary affairs. They do not realize that it takes 560 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION [Higher time to assemble committees, to gather facts, and to come to conclusions which will do justice to everyone concerned. No disciplinary officer will get on well unless he has a reputation for playing fair. If the college officer is willing to give the square deal, he will have gone a long way toward solving his official difficulties. He will some- times have to listen to some long stories, he will perhaps have often to go a long way and suffer some inconvenience to discover necessary facts, but the college students whom I have known have for the most part been square, and have been willing to take without complaint or whimpering what was legitimately coming to them for their misdeeds, when it was shown to them that the college officer was inclined to do the fair thing. I long ago learned that it will never do to reach a conclusion with regard to any matter under dispute without hearing both sides of the story. No matter how damaging or convincing the evidence may be, it is always best to hold one’s judgment in abeyance until the accused party has been heard, and given a fair chance to defend himself. Only a few days ago a woman called me up to settle a dispute with ref- erence to an alleged agreement which she had had with a student. “ Should not a student who has rented a room for a semester, and who leaves before that time, pay for the whole semester?” she asked. “ Ordinarily, yes,” I answered, “but I should like to talk to the student before answering.” And when I did, I found that in reality the woman had violated her con- tract, but wanted still to hold the student to his. It is never advisable to convict a man on circumstantial evidence, no matter how convincing it may appear to be. The committee of which I am chairman in my own institution have made it a rule to give the student the benefit of the doubt unless the case is clearly proved. We have never felt that we have lost by this method, for even tho some guilty ones have escaped we have always been able to justify our actions, and to hold to our decisions. This last point is a really important one. Whenever a disciplinary body gets a reputation for reversing its decisions, or changing its action at the first appeal, it loses force and influence. It is no light matter to send a man away from college; it may deprive the student of his chances of an educa- tion, and it is a disgrace and a sorrow to the family at home not easily borne. For that reason, such action should be taken deliberately, with a clear notion of what the facts are, and what the punishment means. Being once taken, unless new evidence is presented which alters the circumstances and presents new conditions, it should not be reversed. Any college disciplinary body will have to withstand tears and promises of reform, petitions and the onslaught of influential friends. If the decision was right, however, it should stand; if it was wrong, it should never have been made. Whenever a disciplinary officer shows unusual consideration for the position or the connections of anyone under examination, he loses his grasp of the situation. A student should not be shown favors because he is some- Department] COLLEGE DISCIPLINE 56i one’s son, or because he is related to someone who has social position or influence. Everyone should be treated alike so far as his social position is concerned. Personally I have found the greatest help in the solving of disciplinary difficulties in the students themselves. I should have far more trouble than I do were it not for the reliance which I have upon individual students, and student organizations, to help control situations. One of the main reasons why I have favored fraternities, and other social organizations among stu- dents, is because I have found them of the greatest help to me in controlling and directing student activities, and in preventing dissipations and out- bursts which might otherwise occur. One active student leader can help immensely to keep things under control. One of the greatest difficulties of student discipline lies in the changing character of the student population. Every year, perhaps one third of the student community is new, and must become accustomed to the traditions and the regulations of the college. Whether this number consists of one hundred or one thousand, it should be someone’s business to get acquainted with these freshmen, to know so far as possible who they are, where they come from, where they live, and what they are doing. If students have the feeling that some college officer knows what they are doing, and if the college officer goes far to make this feeling a reality, the problems of student discipline will be minimized. We are coming more and more to see, I believe, that tho college students should be allowed so far as possible to think and act independently, they should be so situated that someone will know what they are doing; then, if trouble is brewing, someone will know where to look for it, and perhaps how to prevent it; if not, he will at least have a more intelligent idea of how it may be ended with the least friction on student and faculty. If a man hopes to succeed as a disciplinary officer he must keep closely in touch and sympathy with student life and student activities. He must be willing to praise the virtuous, to commend the worthy as well as to pass judgment upon the derelict. The wider his acquaintance the better; the more fully he understands human nature the easier will be his task. He must often know a great many things which he does not tell, tho he must not tell things which he does not know. He will not lose if he sometimes does the unexpected thing, and no matter how many years he may live he must always be young.