Average Michigan Undergraduate Stays at Home, But Not to Study--Fraternities Compete in Playing Host to Harvard

The following appraisal of life at Michigan was written for the Crimson by O. W. Burke, formerly an undergraduate at that institution and at present a student in this University.

The typical Harvard man belongs to the restricted, self-centered New England type; the average Michigan undergraduate is more polished, less unwilling to speak to his friend across the street, closer in his contact with fellow students.

The Harvard man gets his learning from the careful study of text-books; the Michigan student more often obtains his knowledge from the study of the co-eds in the classroom. And they are worth looking at. Be it known that the presence of several thousand female students at the University of Michigan is the greatest factor differentiating it from Harvard. For there is endless social life within the college. Whereas Harvard men get much of their excitement from rushing in to Boston, and attending the "deb" dances, the Wolverine undergraduate stays at home.

There are no cars at Michigan, and Detroit is over 40 miles away, so there are parties galore within walking distance. Every weekend some one of the important fraternities gives a party; during the football season, there are innumerable social functions which may be more aptly described as brawls. For the games the fraternity houses decorate their buildings in every way imaginable: today there is a contest between the fraternities to see which can put up the gayest decorations. There are to be slices of yellow and blue; there are to be slices of brilliant crimson: and there are to be huge "M's" and "H's" amidst the galaxy of color. The whole town of Ann Arbor is celebrating the coming of the Crimson.

That is Michigan. After going there one year. I came to Harvard.