CONFEDERATION TO SPONSOR STUDENT OLYMPIAD AT ROME IN 1927 WRITES DEAK

The following article is the third of a series of four dealing with the Confederation Internationale des Etudiants, and written especially for the Crimson by Mr. Frantz Deak, Vice-president of the Confederation. In this article Mr. Deak will discuss various phases of the work of the committees of the C. I. E.

In the two preceeding articles I outlined the moral and material conditions, which led to the organization of the National Student Unions and of the C. I. E., as well as the history and development of these organizations. The subject of this article is to portray briefly the means by which we expected to fulfill the aim of the movement.

The purpose of the National Student Unions is to give help to students in gaining a higher standard of moral, educational and material conditions. Its duty is to coordinate the work of the different national student bodies in relation to international intercourse; to foster their cooperation and create through this cooperation a spirit of understanding, good will and mutual assistance. Consequently, the practical work to attain this higher moral, educational and material standard, is done chiefly by the National Student Unions. I shall not go into the details or outline the different topics on which the individual National Unions are working. The problems and difficulties of student life are different in each country, and the way is open to each Union to choose the topics which it judges necessary to work upon independently.

Committee System Devides Work

Thus the C. I. E. does not interfere at all in the internal affairs of any National Union, unless it is requested to do so, in order to help in solving problems. But the C. I. E. took up in its agenda all matters of international interests. These questions are discussed at the annual meeting of the Council and in order to secure the continuity of the work, the Council appointed six permanent Committees. Each of these Committees has a definite and limited sphere and the decisions of the Council are made upon the investigations, reports and suggestions of these Committees.

The first Committee is charged to study the organizations of students both national and international; to supervise the activity of the permanent offices; to take charge of a division of new members. We may call this the legal department of the C. I. E.

The second Committee takes care of the affairs of administration, and the coordination of the work of the permanent offices.

The third committee is in charge of international relations; organization of student tours, student exchanges, and so forth.

The fourth committee takes up educational questions, scholarships, and the adjustment of diplomas made necessary by the fact that in various countries the educational system is different.

The fifth committee has control of the relief work, University sanitoriums and all kinds of permanent relief. During the disastrous period of 1919-1922 the the demands of emergency relief were indeed met chiefly by the European agency of the Student Friendship Fund.

Increase of Competitive Sport

The fifth Committee has in its agenda all questions relating to University sports.

The numerous plans and suggestions worked out in these committees, and decided upon by the Council are carried out by the permanent offices of the C. I. E. At the present time there are such permanent offices in Brussels where the central office is located and in London, where is placed the main office of the Travel Department with a continental branch in Paris. The latter was instituted especially for the convenience of the American tours which are to take place this summer. The Commission of Sports is in Paris: the Bureau of Scientific Motion Picture Films in Zurich, and a Bureau of exchange of books and publications in Warsaw.

In view of the limited space of this article it is impossible for me to give a full statement of all the work, which has been done during the past years. Let us consider, however, some of the important achievements of the Student Federation.

In educational questions the C. I. E. made very useful investigations in the various systems of education and in law, as well as in the delicate problem of the adjustment of diplomas. The League of Nations Committee on Intellectual Cooperation appointed the C. I. E. to enquire into the question of the usefulness of the Scientific Moving Picture Films in University education. A special bureau was set up in Zurich under the auspices of the Swiss National Students Union, and we shall be able to hand over a complete report to the League suggesting how this department may best be carried on.

Text Books Scarce

Athletic sports are to my mind an important, in fact a very important part of education. The C. I. E. rendered great service to the European students in popularizing the idea of University athletics, which in many countries were previously looked upon as unimportant. Through the work of the athletic commission University sports are rapidly being developed throughout the continent. During the past two years there were already international competitions in football, swimming, rowing and fencing between two or more national student sport associations, and the commission in Paris is now working on the organization of an Olympiad of Arts, Sciences and Sports to be held at Rome in August 1927 and to which the student representatives of the whole world will be welcomed.

As to the material side of life, there were a few but successful attempts which I should like to mention. Perhaps the greatest was the creation of the University Sanatorium in Leysen, Switzerland by the Swiss students. During the last year the French students raised the necessary funds to establish a similar sanatorium in the French Alps near Grenoble.

The problem of text books is a very difficult one especially for students in Central and Eastern European countries with their low rates of exchange. An added complication is that we do not have the excellent library system in existence in the United States. Our Warsaw bureau has done a fine piece of work in providing a great number of students in these countries with the chief English, French, and German text books.

The successful actions taken by the National Unions and by the C. I. E. in order to obtain reduced rail-road fares and visa fees were, though indirect, nevertheless essential helps to our students.

The largest and best developed Committee has charge of travel in the various countries. As the facilitation of travel is the practical work done by which we hope to achieve our chief end, namely the creation of a universal feeling of good-will and understanding. I shall treat this part of the C. I. E. activities in a separate article.