[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Orion, in his article
in your last number, takes it for granted that Undergraduates are at bottom "laughing, ragging, irresponsible youth," apt to do anything if left alone. On the other hand ninety-five per cent, of the Undergraduates at Cambridge, at least, have no such tendency. The ragging, such as the disgraceful attack on the police on November 5th last year, is the work of no more than five per cent. There were then present in Market Square about one-tenth of the Undergraduates, but the majority of these were there only to see what happened. The resulting disorder was, I firmly believe, largely due to the action of police and proctors in attempting to quell a mild rag.
Though thoroughly agreeing with Orion that cars are unnecessary for undergraduates, I wish that he could be persuaded that we undergraduates are not irresponsible except in reply to the definite assumption on the part of authority ths t we are so. The remedy lies, as far as I see it, in a relaxa- tion of discipline coupled with a stricter insistence on an adequate amount of work done, so that Cambridge and else-
where could become again places that you did not go to unless you proposed to spend at least a little of your time working.
The answer to those who demand more discipline is that we are young men, many of us entrusted with a vote by the Government, and if we are treated as men we are perfectly capable of behaving as such.—I am, Sir, &c., MARI°.
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