UNDERGRADUATE "RAGGING."

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19862, 25 February 1930, Page 5

UNDERGRADUATE "RAGGING."

DR. HALLIDAY'S EXPLANATION. COMPLEXITY OF THE PROBLEM. (raou oua own correspondent.) LONDON, January 9. Dr. E. B. Halliday, Principal of King's College has made a further statement in regard to the recent disorders which brought about the suspension of three students of King's College. 1 ' Tho measures whicn I have thought proper to take in relation to the maintenance of discipline in the college of which I have the honour to be principal," he said, "would seem to be a domestic matter, tho discussion of which in the public Press would neither bo profitable nor appropriate. "I should wish only to make it clear that for the particular incident which necessitated them, the individuals who have been punished were solely responsible, and that their action was planned and carried out entireiy without the knowledge of the general body of students in the college.

"The general problem raised by under-graduate ragging in London is obviously a legitimate matter of public interest in so far as it interferes with public convenience. Hence it will clearly be the duty of those in authority to endeavour to prevent the exuberance of youth from becoming a public nuisance. It may be well, however, to emphasise the complexity of their problem. Allowance for Youth. '' It would bo both impracticable and unjust to legislate by any system of rigid penalties for disciplinary offences which may vary from a good-humoured joke or a relatively harmless ebullition of youthful high spirits to a serious disorder which causes inconvenience to the public and damage to property. "Allowance, too, must be made for the fact that the thoughtlessness of youth may provoke unintentional consequences, and a harmless beginning may have a deplorable ending. " There is, however, one typo of socalled rag, a recent innovation, I believe, in London, to which a stop must clearly be put. To break in at night upon the premises of others and deliberately to commit wanton damage to someone else's property, lacks any saving graco of humour, and cannot be excused as an example of high spirits. "Even such courage as it displays is at best that of tho burglar. This senseless kind of performance cannot be tolerated either in the public interest or in the interest of the offenders themselves. "I feel it difficult to conclude without a final jvord in defence of the general behaviour of the students not of King's College only, but of the University of London as a whole. The students of the University of London outnumber those of Oxford and Cambridge put together. They live in a metropolis where any explosion of high spirits attracts immediate attention under conditions which make such explosions peculiarly infelicitous."