UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21598, 19 March 1932, Page 8

UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

FRESHERS’ WELCOME SOCIAL last night, at the Allen Hall, a social gathering was held to welcome freshers to the University, the meeting being held under the auspices of the Students Union and the Student Christian Movement. There was a large attendance, the guests including several of the University professors. Mr J. Butler (president of the Students’ Union) and Miss Clare (vicepresident), and Mr E. G. Jansen (president of the Student Christian Movement) extended a welcome to the newcomers. The speeches were of the kindliest nature, with a sprinkling of timely advice, and were calculated to hearten the students on their entry to a great seat of learning. Mr Jansen took the opportunity of touching briefly on the growth and increase of the Student Christian Movement. The sole justification of any institution, he said, was that it met a need. It was because a need existed for such an organisation as the Student Christian Movement that the movement had presented itself, and for the same reason it continued to exist. Religion was so essential a part in human life that the question of its rightful place in the whole scheme of things was one that must be thought out and discussed, and that would be thought out and discussed by all people who were anything more than frivolous-minded. In any institution of 1200 people, as in the University, there were bound to be a good many people to whom religion was a real and vital thing, and to such people within the student community the Student Christian Movement provided a meeting ground for their activities In accord with their interests. A pleasant evening was spent, and the freshers had a cordial welcome on the threshold of the period of higher learning which is before them.