TERMS OF AGREEMENT MADE BETWEEN CLUBS SUMMARIZED

Inasmuch as the terms of the agreement made between the Clubs has not been printed for several years, the following resume is published for the benefit of those who are not acquainted with the rules. The Freshman dormitories were first used in the fall of 1914 and their use necessitated certain changes in the activities of the smaller social clubs of the College. It was no longer desirable to have men join these clubs in their Freshman year:

In anticipation of this situation, in the spring of 1914, the following clubs entered into an agreement, which is now in effect and on file in the office of the President of the College: A. D. Club, Alpha Phi Sigma Club, Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, Argo Club, Chi Delta, Delphic Club, Digamma Club, D. U. Club, Fly Club, Iota Club, Iroquois Club, Kappa Gamma Chi, Kappa Sigma Fraternity, Owl Club, Phi Kappa Epsilon Society, Phoenix Club, Pi Eta Society, Porcellian Club, S. A. E. Fraternity, Spee Club, Stylus Club, S. K. Club.

The gist of the agreement is that no club shall elect as a member any undergraduate before the fourth Monday after the opening of College in his Sophomore year, shall not give him notice of his election until the following Tuesday, and shall not pledge him until the following Friday, and that there shall be no canvassing for members from a class until the opening of College in its Sophomore year.

The relationship of clubs under the agreement to other clubs is expressed in the following article of the agreement:

"No club shall take as a member any undergraduate from the class of 1918 or subsequent classes, who has accepted election before the Friday following the fourth Monday after the opening of College in his Sophomore year to any other social club or society which takes in less than one hundred members from a College class. The Advisory Committee shall have power to determine what organizations come within the meaning of this rule." The Advisory Committee is composed of one graduate representative from each club.

The agreement against canvassing is as follows:

(1) "Canvassing is here defined as 'reading' or speaking or making to any undergraduate any statement or representation about any club, or notifying him directly or indirectly that he is or is not under consideration as a future member of any club.

(2) "Each club shall prohibit its undergraduate members and its members elect (meaning thereby persons notified of their election, but not yet initiated) from canvassing any undergraduate before the opening of College in his Sophomore year.

(3) "Each club shall request its graduate members to consider it a point of honor not to canvass any undergraduate in any way before the opening of College in his Sophomore year."

In order to describe more fully the intention of the clause prohibiting canvassing, the Advisory Committee has voted "that this restriction will be violated if a club member or members cultivate the acquaintance of any undergraduate before the opening of College of his Sophomore year with such persistency as to indicate to him that he is under consideration as a future member of the club to which said club member or members belong."

As a brief, general description of the activities which the provisions of the agreement cover, it is sufficient to say that they prohibit definitely, with relation to a candidate, until after the opening of College in his Sophomore year, any such action as (1) Giving him to understand, directly or indirectly, that he is under consideration as a member of a club; (2) asking or advising him, directly or indirectly, to "wait" for a certain club, that is, not to be a candidate for any other club; (3) endeavoring to influence his judgment as to the merits of the different clubs; and (4) encouraging him to form a group of his classmates with the intention of waiting for any club.

The agreement does not mean that clubs should not be mentioned to a man before the opening of College in his Sophomore year, or that he should not know the facts of public knowledge, such as the location of the different club-houses, provided such matters are not called to his attention in a way that would be contrary to the spirit of the agreement.

Unclassified students and dropped Freshmen are regarded as Sophomores. In cases in which it is claimed that a man enrolled for the first time as a Freshman is on account of war service to be considered not a Freshman in the view of the agreement, the Executive Committee of the Advisory Committee has power to determine his status. No action in violation of the agreement shall be taken by a club contemplating the election of such a man until it shall have submitted the question to the Executive Committee, which shall decide whether the man is or is not a Freshman under the agreement and shall give notice of its decision to all the clubs. No club shall pledge or elect such a man until one week shall have elapsed after notice has been given all clubs of the decision of the committee