REPLY TO CRITICS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 32, 1 November 1933, Page 10

REPLY TO CRITICS

University Teaching FEW EXTREME VIEWS Victoria College Inquiry LOYALTY OF STUDENTS A reply to recent criticism in tlie Press alleging that there were influences at work within Victoria. University College subversive of religion, morality and patriotism, and that the college authorities had failed to check these influences, is contained in a report prepared by the College Council, and released yesterday after consideration extending over a number of weeks. Tlie report is emphatic in stating that the public may rest assured the college spirit is on the whole good, and that the great majority of students live an active, normal life, deserving to stand well in the estimation, not only of their teachers and their council, but also of the public. The report states the council is glad to be able to assure the public that there is no ground for suspicion concerning the loyalty of the students as a whole. It was true there was a mere handful of students who were influenced by extreme views and who expressed those views themselves; but the very great majority of the present students were worthy of the reputation theij predecessors had earned for the college. . “Must be Restrained." Ex-students of the college were to be found in. positions of honour in the Church, in industry, in commerce, in the professions of medicine, law and teaching, in the Judiciary, the Public Service, and in every phase of activity w’here useful service was to be performed, the report stated. It was felt the same would be true of the present students in the years to come. The very small number whose conduct and beliefs were in conflict with the great majority of the community attracted attention entirely out ui proportion to their influence in the college. Their influence must, and would be. restrained within reasonable bounds. The report stated that after obtaining a report from the professorial board, the college council had carefully considered the allegations made, and in doing so had examined the conditions of affairs in the college under the heads of (a) the clubs of the college, (b) the subjects of discussion, (c) persons invited to address clubs, (d) discipline and control, and (e) general. College Club Activities. A considerable portion of the report concerned the activities of the clubs affiliated to the college, 27 in number. After detailing the various subjects debated under the auspices of the debating society during the past two years, the report states that every year the committee of the society chooses controversial subjects because they are controversial, for .the very “raison d’etre” of a debating society is controversy. Further, the committed of the society considers the meetings of the debating society of a university allege are occasions on which the right of freedom of speech should be allowed to the fullest reasonable limit, a right which has seldom, if ever, .been abused in the annals of the society. The report devotes considerable space to reviewing the aims and activities of the Free Discussions Club, the Student Christian Movement, the Evangelical Union, the Commerce Society, the Science Society, the Mathematical and Physical. Society, and the Literary Society* and sums up with a list of all those persons who, during the past two years, have accepted invitations to address student clubs. ' Supervision Exercised. In pursuance of its power, the report states, the professorial board exercises a supervision over all student activities within the college, and lias never failed to bring to its delicate task a judgment and a tact without which success would be impossible, and • which has won the complete confidence of the council. No student club might be formed, no meetings held withiu the college, and, since April, 1932, no persons not members of the college might be invited to address clubs without the prior permission of the board. In general this power is exercised by the chairman of the' board, sometimes in conjunction with the executive of the students’ association. The most outstanding points in the recent discussion are. in the council's opinion, those specially emphasised by Canon James, namely that debates have taken place during the past two or three years on sexual and religious subjects. Both the council and the board regretted that such debates should have taken place, and were of the opinion that no such debates should be permitted in the future. The board had already issued the necessary instructions to prevent the further debating of these subjects. The suggestion that the religious faith of the students was “powerfully assailed” was easier to make than to refute, the report continues, but the council believed it to ’'6 without foun-. dation. The atmosphere was one of freedom but not' of irreligion. Every denomination and many, sects were represented among the stiidents, and it was a matter for congratulation that, despite these varying religious sentiments, there was a complete absence of denominational or sectarian bitterness. Antidote to Irreligion. A large number of the graduates of the college had taken religious orders. The information necessary tb compile a list of these was not available, but. there was no doubt that such a list would be very extensive and would embrace young men representative of practically every denomination in the community. Tlie influence of such students on the general life of the._ college was a powerful antidote to irreligion. “Whether the council can do more than it is doing at present to assist the students to arrive at sound judgment and to develop their characters is a question which will continue to have its careful and anxious consideration.” the report concludes. “It is well aware of its responsibilities both to the students under its care and to th? general public for whom it acts, and it will endeavour to fulfil them to its utmost ability, and will welcome, any assistance offered in this respect. The council does not feel it should conclude it« report without reaffirming the confidence it has already expressed in th® professors and lecturers of- the college, who, it is satisfied, are faithfully serving the college and the community.”