THE " New Rules for the Government of Students " adopted at the beginning of this session were classed at that time by the FREE LANCE as an improvement. There was, however, one clause which was decidedly objectionable and now, after a fair trial of three months, we are ready to condemn it. The following editorial from the Pennsylvanian exactly expresses the sentiment we wish to convey from Student-body to Faculty. " While every one clearly recognizes the necessity of securing a full attendace at recitations, we must say that we believe the rule requiring a writtten excuse from a parent or physician for absence is very ill advised and it is hardly to be wondered if it is resented by the undergraduates. In the first place it is a rule which from the very nature of things can not be enforced. Ther'e are at present some three hundred men in the Dormitories and several hundred more living in boarding houses near the University. Most of these men are many miles from their homes. It is clearly impossible for them to get written excuses from their parents for absences from college. In regard to a note from a physician in case of illness, we believe there are many cases in which a student might not feel well enough to attend college and yet he would hardly be ill enough to ask for a physican's certificate. More over, how is the physician to. know a man was too ill to attend college or not? " He must take the student's word for it, a thing that the authori ties refuse to do. As a matter of fact, the rule requiring a physi cian's certificate is very easy to evade as is evidenced by the colleges which try to enforce it. " More imPortant than these considerations, however, is the fact that the rule is extremely childish and certainly is not calculated to call out in the students that self-dependence and self-respect which the University ought to instill into them. To compel a college student to go to his parents for a written excuse for absence is to say that he is a mere child, incapable of deciding questions for himself and unworthy of the confidence of his teachers. We hardly think that the University authorities desire to take this at ttode and respectfully suggest that they carefully consider whether the new absence rule is one which should be enforced at the Uni versity of Pennsylvania." THE FREE LANCE will be glau to make a collection of college yells such as anyone may submit, and keep them until the ques, The Free Lance [DECEMBR,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers