Student Life: School Spirit, 1926
From GWUEncyc
Article
“School Spirit vs. Horseplay”
The Hatchet admires school spirit; nay, it fosters it. But the time has come when some distinction should be made between school spirit and horseplay. The rowdy affair between Freshmen and Sophomores which occurred in Corcoran Hall last Friday during the Chapel services belongs to the latter category. The interruption of the exercises at which a visiting minister was talking, and the injury of an innocent bystander were deplorable and inexcusable.
The Freshmen needs chastening. But let him be chastened in the wide open spaces where the noise of battle will not disturb. The Sophomore’s responsibility is not only to make the Freshmen recognize his place, but also to instill in him a wholesome respect for his University as an institution, and a decent regard for its regulations. There is a time and place for everything; and Corcoran Hall at the Chapel hour is neither the time nor the place for a class war.
The time has come when the student body of the George Washington University should concentrate its efforts toward the development of class spirit and interclass rivalry. The Sophomore Society, which the President’s Student Committee is sponsoring, is a definite step in this direction. There is a definite field for such an organization and an infinite amount of work to be done. Its aim should be the development of a general University spirit in the student body, its regulations should be practical enough to be enforced under the conditions that exist here and its efforts toward the attaining of these two should never cease. If the students who are helping to organize this group and the sophomores who make up the charter membership will always work for these things, they will have the respect and support of the entire University and the organization will be bound to succeed.
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Author or Source: Hatchet, October 20, 1926; Hatchet, April 21, 1926
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: January 26, 2007
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist
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