Show STUDENT GOVERNMENT AS A GRADUATE SEES ITA IT A Letter From Japan to a Friend Fiend of of Student Government Here Tokyo Japan Jan 3 1911 Dear Lately the Chronicle has been speaking of student student student stu stu- dent control of discipline You were away during nearly all the time I was at school so I shall have to tell you that while I was there I was quite a dabbler in student affairs and I enjoyed it to to- such an extent that I am now at it again I L have always believed and I still believe that until the University adopts the idea Once a student always a student our school will never be the the- power in the state it should be The Student Body Constitution recognizes this idea and allows allows allows al al- lows an alumnus to speak on student affairs therefore no one should object if I get rid of my case of bubbles by talking a few minutes I will have to tell you that I am responsible for the most part for the present Study Body Constitution It took a long time to get the Constitution Constitution Constitution Con Con- adopted and since its adoption it has had its times with amendments but still in theory it is as it was in the beginning and as as long as its theory of organization stays stays' Ill I'll claim it The original draft of the Constitution likely ought thought out during lectures and written during mOm moments mints ts like the present when I should have been dot doing something else not only contained the 5 5 student activity fee which I understand has been lately adopted and which I know must be working well but also made provision for the organization or- or of the U college alumni as association which you remember we worked on for a few min min- utes Besides this there was a student control of discipline section Few students favored the idea then and though we got gat the president to present the matter to the Regents it was not ac ac- When it came to the student discipline section even even my closest helping friend told me that r I was drunk or that my head was sick with the thick He spoke gently but I suppose I I nevertheless agreed with him for I let the matter matter matter mat mat- ter drop there Now I know that I cant can't come back either literally or figuratively I dont don't even want It to 0 for I realize that five or six years out of school makes one a dead one and with the Pacific between between between be be- tween my ideas and the new ones I would indeed be listed among the pus cor But I want to see the theory of the old constitution stick I believe it is good and expandable to every condition condition condition condi condi- tion of growth and as I imagined that you would have much to do with the beginnings of student discipline I decided to tell you the old ideas knowing that they could not possibly do any harm I have or rather I had when I left home the original draft of the Constitution fondly tucked away and if I were within reach I would give it to you exactly as it was in the original in its article and section dress I might attempt attempt attempt at at- tempt it now but after three or four years of Chapter and Verse I feel that Article and Section Section Section Sec Sec- tion would be too difficult I will merely give the features s as I remember them 1 A Court or a Committee to consist of or a President who shall be el elected by the students from three Seniors or Juniors who have been nominated by the Faculty and four members to tobe tobe to tobe be nominated and elected by the students at the annual el election Seniors and Juniors only being qualified 2 This court to have absolute control of cases in student discipline and their judgment shall be final except that on a four-fifths four vote an appeal may be allowed The court shall make its own rules of procedure and establish its own precedents After appeal has been allowed the President of the University shall be the final jud judge e ein in all cases of Junior and Senior students and the President of the Student Body in all cases of Freshmen and Sophomores This seems rather strange now but still the reasons are more than an evident I think 3 The Court shall have power to recommend e expulsion to suspend to withdraw the right to wear the U or any other student reward and to withdraw the right to vote or hold office in the Student Body The Ideas may be all old They seemed original original original inal when I first wrote them But long ago I learned that as far as my little brain was concerned concerned concerned con con- original ideas were pretty few ew I remember remember remember ber the first time I ran away from school I thought it was an original idea but I was mistaken for forI I hadn't been out long when I met one of my boy companions who was also running away from school He claimed he had a patent on the scheme and proved he had a right to it by showing me a note which he had intercepted written on yellow yellow yellow yel yel- low paper which his teacher had sent to his father mentioning the thel fact that the boy had not been in school the day before I am happy to be able ble to report another University University University Uni Uni- boy in Japan Month before last Grant Ivins of Salt Lake arrived and he is now digging splendidly at this glorious language He wishes to be remembered to you He is living with us here in Tokyo Sincerely yours ELBERT D D. D THOMAS THO |