VARSITY PACIFISM

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 71, 6 March 1933, Page 7

VARSITY PACIFISM

MANCHESTER FOLLOWS OXFORD. (Received 6, 10.10 a.m.) London, March 4. Manchester University Union followed the example of Oxford and earned by 371 votes to 196 a motion refusing to fight under any circumstances. The Nottingham University authorities forbade a similar debate. The students, therefore, passed a resolution protesting against the deprivation of the right of free speech. A cablegram from London on Febru ary 17 stated:—A pacifist controversy at Oxford University reached a climax this evening. A party of undergraduates, headed by stalwart rowing men, raided a meeting of the Union Society. They seized the minute book and tore out a page on which was recorded a resolution passed by 275 votes to 153 at the last, meeting; which state!: “That this house in no circumstances will fight for King and Country.” This excessive pacifism has elicited angry protests from present and past students at Oxford, as has also the receipt of a parcel of 275 white feathers, which it is rumoured came from the women’s college. A special meeting of tho Union has been called for the rescission of the offending resolution. Later the minute book was carried in triumph round the university and burned at the foot of the Martyrs’ Memorial. Oxford thus vindicated her loyalty. The latest craze in Oxford is membership of the “White Feather Brigade.”