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SCHOLARS VS. ATHLETES.

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED

The Student Council has begun to receive suggestions. Although there has been as yet not even a nominating committee appointed to propose names for election next fall, the Council is taken as a matter of course by at least one man who evidently believes in the usefulness of the Council and its ability to cope with all questions of undergraduate importance. This is by no means the first time that suggestions have been made with a view to having the student body give some concrete appreciation to high scholarship each year, but little has ever been accomplished in that direction. It is too often the fate of the scholar to be appreciated by very few men other than a limited group of teachers with a few intimate friends; furthermore, there are few who attempt to deny that the proper proportion in the recognition of the athlete and the scholar by the undergraduate is a thing of the past and the disproportion shows no signs of decrease.

How the undergraduate body is to show this general public recognition for the man who has won laurels in scholarly pursuits has never been successfully worked out. The Phi Beta Kappa elections in honoring the twenty or more highest scholars in the class give to the men an excellent reward for their efforts but it does not come from the students as a whole. The broadening of the scope of the requirements of election recently has been of distinct advantage in securing a group of men representing the best and sanest types of intellectual students, but it is not given them by the entire body of students of which they are a part and so can never be as powerful an approbation as that given for athletic prowess.

It is out of the question to award the "H" or any other insignia pertaining to the athlete to men of high standing. The University letter is so identified with the University teams that it belongs solely to them.

The writer of the communication wisely refrains from offering a direct suggestion as to how this might be best accomplished, but the general idea should be of value to the new Council and we hope that some plan will be devised to secure the desired results.

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