Since 1914, the editors of The Davidsonian have written weekly editorials. These columns addressed issues of concern for the campus. For this week’s blog, we look at some editorials written on February 9th in the 1940s through 1970s.
On February 9, 1945, the issue at hand was the college’s point system and a welcome to the influx of freshman who joined the college in January. The point system was a part of the student constitution “established to protect individuals from becoming overburdened with extra-curricular activities.” Under this system, students earned points based on participation and were limited to 40 points during a semester. The editorial notes that no one is enforcing the rules and that “at present there are students carrying as many as eighty points.” You have to wonder how many points current Davidson students would be carrying.
The second part of the editorial acknowledges that the college changed during the war years and offers advice to new students adjusting to college life.
The 1951 editorial chastises “Davidson Gentlemen” for their poor behavior in Chapel, noting, “If the administration can rightly– and it seems legitimate that they can– expect our willingness to participate reverently in a daily group devotional period by the mere fact of our presence at Davidson College, then we would like to be the first to applaud Dr. Cunningham for his reprimanding and constructively suggestive talk in chapel last week. At least he was right in saying that though we had not meant to be, we had nevertheless, been irreverent, insolent, crude, and otherwise ungentlemanly and pagan-like in our chapel conduct– and he was probably too kind in saying that we had not meant to be. The main criticism of his reprimand is that it is probably two or three years overdue.”
The editorial offers its own constructive suggestions and a direct criticism of the Student Chapel Committee comparing them to Ursidae (bear) family “some of whose members have the peculiar habit of hibernating from Fall to Spring.”
In 1962, the issue at hand is integration and a recent poll of the student body. In acknowledging that student participation was low, the editors reflect that
A once-heated topic now seems to have cooled off. Perhaps the successive integration of school after school and college after college in the South has made the integration of Davidson seem inevitable and has made argument over the issue seem purely theoretical. Both the integrationist and segregationist forces seem to be waiting, watching to see what the trustees’ action will be.
The legacies of integration remain as recent editorials on “Davidson and Division” have sparked conversations on campus.
The February 9, 1979 editorial focused on an evaluation of self-scheduled exams. While the report was positive, the response to it was not.
If anything in the ensuing discussion could have been misunderstood, it has been misunderstood. If anything could have been misconstrued, it has been misconstrued. If anything could have been distorted, it has been distorted.
Because of a few cynical and outspoken professors, many students have been led to believe the faculty is seriously considering abandoning self-scheduled exams because of suspected cheating.
Because of a few student blunderers, many professors have decided students are short-sighted and incapable of helping to make good-long term decisions for the benefit of the college, decisions which might not necessarily immediately benefit the students themselves.
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