Page:The Fraternity and the College (1915).pdf/45

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equally true of the fraternity. Unless there is a real respect by the members for the head of the house and coeperation with his plans and ideals the fraternity home life will go pretty well to destruction. Within the last year I have seen many illustrations of this in our own fraternities. The various factions which develop under these circumstances have their effect upon everyone in the organization. "We have been able to do little with our freshmen this year," an upperclassman said to me at commencement time. "They are disorganized, disrespectful, and unmanageable." I could easily see the reason. They were like a family of children when father and mother are constantly quarrelling. There had been no harmony among the upperclassmen, no respect for the president, no real support of authority, and it was no wonder that the younger members were rebellious. When the upperclassmen develop jealousy and dissension, the freshmen are usually not strong for the spirit of unity.

There must be rules in a well ordered household which every member is under obligation to respect and to observe. These regulations may not necessarily be printed, but they should at least be definitely understood. There have never been any printed regulations in my own household, but I have no doubt but that it might be helpful to the happy conduct of affairs if I could see somewhere