Show od Ox oxfords fords 0 problem P em Z e 1 J li 1 I 7 A I 1 A Z torn tom tower of christ church college oxford predad prep Pre pad d by th tha Nt national ional deos apolo So society cloty Wu hington X D C the famous english 0 university town to Is confronted with I 1 perplexing problem dependent Depend eit almost entirely upon the good will and trade of the students and professors of the ancient seat of learning which has carried its name came around the world it Is naturally anxious to prevent any outside factor from spoiling the unique character and appearance of the town yet tet only five miles away aw ay in tile the neighboring village of cowley the largest automobile factory in great britain prospers and threatens to bring modern mass production up to the very walls and spires of its halls of learning england needs successful industries just now and therein mes hes the rub tile the national association of local government ofIl cers ot of england met I 1 in n oxford recently and its members rs discussed the matter pro ind and con william robson one of the officers prophesied that oxford would become the latin quarter of cowley cow ley ox onland it Is clear would rather have such industries confined to the midlands and would save each in its own way both oxford and lancashire oxford is a picture of the middle ages whose spirit speaks of tomorrow and Is a fascinating study in itself A home of lost causes and impossible loyalties it lias has been labeled by some writers perhaps libeled labeled la Is a better word lost causes and impossible loyalties suggest defeat an and d decay but oxford alpar apparently een aly has been nourished by lost caus causes 1 it it has thrived on or prospered in spite of impossible loyalties the spires of the good gray city look down upon vis us restless ones of a machine age with the same detachment and indifference that they displayed in the face of cromwell and his bis roundheads Round heads or any others who have threatened their monastic peace and calm there are of course those who say that oxford Is very far from being a home of lost causes and that on the contrary it has always been quick to fall in line with every popular fad which various generations have developed but bt tilts tills Is a matter of opinion keeping up to date strolling along the winding streets ind and lanes of oxford town one notices many things in the windows and signs of the shops which indicate that t the he tradesmen and others not directly connected with the university have made concessions to the times chain stores stoics called 13 3 and Gs instead of 5 and the units being pennies there Is a branch bianchi of tile the well known Wool in oxford american movie houses cin cinema cina Is the english word showing american and foreign films alms interurban bus lines garages and parking spaces soda fountains ind novelty shops although every vista Is closed with I 1 a spire or tower a polite and efficient traffic policeman will admonish you to come along move it if you linger too long at crossings to drink in the beauty and charm ot of the scene before you cut but all tilts this Is oxford town which for generations has washed like a r sea ea against the bulwark of walls towers and battlements known as the colleges of oxford university within their great iron studded gates the noise tile the ephemeral comings and goings the ordinary pleasures and triumphs and disappointments of the workaday world fade away here one feels sure Is no shell of it a dead civilization but rather the rich fruit of ripe old age a maturity secure against whatever may come or go in tile the world outside be it near or far from froin the gates origin of the university the origin of oxford as a university is 13 shrouded in the misty myths of a day when wheat records were poorly kept and even more poorly preserved rome oale authorities hold that oxford and cambridge were each founded by 1 I early potentates others claim that religious establishments in the towns attracted scholars it seems more likely however that both oxford and cambridge became universities as a result of 0 location ind and a series of fortunate circumstances halfway between london and the midlands of england on main routes connecting the two populous districts set yet tar far enough removed from the disturbances of these industrial and political centers teachers and scholars alike found in them havens for academic life A few learned men gathered about them in their homes or in monastic buildings groups of students who found such accommodations as they could in halls or hostell hostels about the town in course of time the scholars and teachers as a matter ot convenience boarded together in halls gradually these halls gave way to corporate bodies or colleges most of them of religious foundation and endowment expulsion of foreign students from paris in the twelfth century proved a great impetus to the struggling little english groups and we find a century later that oxford his has students and that cambridge Is recognized in a writ of henry III as an important seat of learning today oxford Is officially composed of 21 colleges one hall a delegacy of son non collegiate St students udera four societies cie ties or colleges of women students and the society of oxford home students the last the female equivalent of the delegacy of Colle glate students graduates may continue to be members of the university by the annual payment of certain fees this membership carries with it both academic and political rights if the graduate lias has a degree of master blaster of arts or higher he may vote on all proposed university legislation and it il li 11 Is also a british subject he may take part in the election of the two members member of parliament to which the university as distinct from the town and county of oxford Is entitled each college independent oxford ind and cambridge are unique among institutions of higher learning in the world in that they are composed of colleges which are also incorporated corp orated bodies each college with independent endowments the right to receive and reject whom it will and the power to regulate its students stu denta within the walls of tile the college itself as it sees lit fit no one in tact fact may be ft a member of the university unless lie he Is first accepted by one of colleges or the societies of the university Is composed are no members of the university large laige the university regulates the teachings prescribes tile the requirements degrees and grants them and discipline outside of the college walls almost every other power Is delegated to tile the individual colleges in respects the relation between the me university find and its colleges resembles that between the federal government and the state governments of our own country one english writer comments facetiously on the system in solemn truth it may be said that the common law of england which cove covers rs so great a part of the world even beyond the bounds of the british empire does docs not run in offord oxford la is a free city wherein men are slaves of a chancel loival lortal tyrant this Is of course mere hyperbole but the vice chancellor who does the wo work rk of the chancellor an honorary nonresident officer may truly be said to be the lord of all lie ho surveys survey in oxford while the city of oxford has a ruling mayor and corporation council and theoretically Is independent and supreme outside of college walls it usually gives way when tile the vice chancellor of the university wishes certain things lings ti for instance no dances benefit entertainments or other amusements open to the hie general public and students may be held beld within ilia limits of file he city of oxford unless the permission ca of f the vice ace chancellor liar ha first been obtained |