Another Flood?

The rule of Syracuse University which prevents students unable to swim from graduating has at last achieved dramatic importance. Miss Bernice Goldstein, of Oneonta, N. Y., a member of the scholastic fraternity of Phi Beta Kappa, will be unable to graduate because she cannot learn to swim. Whether the rule is due to love of Greek culture or fear of an-other flood is not known.

Benjamin's Mess

Columbia's budget for 1923-1924 is $8,628,203, an amount which, at 5%, represents an investment of $172,500,000. There are only fourteen universities in the United States with endowments larger than Columbia's current annual expenditures.

" Matrimonial Mania "

Syracuse University has adopted a dry-land rule whereby the marriage of a student automatically cancels his or her connection with the university. The rule, which is in accordance with the statutes of other universities, was adopted as a restriction upon the " matrimonial mania " which is said to have been devastating American universities since the war.

Dateless Nights

Northwestern is to take less heroic measures to the same effect. Representatives of the fraternities and other groups of male students have agreed to join the young women of the university in celebrating three dateless nights in each week. The colloquialism " dateless " is not to be understood in the poetic sense. The young men are said to expect a resultant advance in scholarship and, incidentally, more conference championships.

Backsliders will be readily detected by Professor Delton F. Howard's character-determining machine which has been approved by the faculty of Northwestern. This device enables the psychologist to determine the qualities of a student by means of two pedals and five levers. News despatches do not make it clear whether the machine in question is sold under the trade-name of Ford or not. Of course, the Ford has long been recognized as a test of character. The inventor of the Northwestern machine divides humanity into four classes: 1) the man who knows it all, 2) the man who asks advice when anything goes wrong, 3) the nervous individual who is easily rattled, 4) the steady and hardworking soul. But all four classes drive the Ford.

The San Francisco Board of Education is apparently still doubtful as to the propriety of replacing German in the schools. The German Government is, of course, vitally concerned as to the outcome. And it has been suggested that the students in the schools who expect to trade or travel or study have a certain interest upon their own account.