STUDENT JUDICIARY

The Student Board of the Student Government Organization of Penn State has recently received provisional power to recommend punishment for students guilty of dishonesty, gambling and unethical conduct with dismissal from college as the maximum punishment for any offense. Final authority, be it noted, is to rest in the President of the College.

The wisdom of such a step is open to serious question, especially when the restrictions on the power, which merely makes the "permission" amount to the right to bear tales, are so plainly outlined. That the students are better fitted than the college authorities to pass judgment on their associates is hardly possible, as they have no qualifications for this sort of work and are liable to influences of such a personal character as to make the question of right and wrong actually a doubtful one. Further, one hears of very few cases indeed of unjust dismissals from college and other punishments, and at a college where such did take place, the "recommendation" of the Student Board would amount to little.

Recent steps taken by both students and faculties to give the students a more important voice in affairs of the college have been of a very encouraging nature, but such a joker and such a sop to the students' ego as this Student Court can hardly be recognized as a forward step. Instead of building up an undergraduate Secret Service. Penn State would do well to develop a spirit of honest cooperation between faculty and student body in constructive policies.