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3~U ri'e. I 902.
THE UNIVERSITY BUiTBLE“-BEE.
To Walter B. Hill.
|j
An Open Letter.
Dear Chancellor: One about to de
part from the University desires
to write an open letter to you con-
cerniug a fault of yours that needs
elimination, or rather, correction.
It is that infreual coldness of
yours that freezes the marrow in
the bones of any poor devil that is
forced to come in contact with you,
officially, or otherwise. Why, hon
estly, during my three years in col
lege under yc u, I would at any
time have preferred taking a snow-
bath in January to a five minutes
consultation with you. No, it was
not a case of conscience with me,
I’ll leave it to any man in college
that the frigidity of your manner
will neutralize the heat of a July
day in Athens, and as for squelch
ing the enthusiasm in a maD, why,
gee whiz!! words f ail me.
Of course we realize fnll well
that you are a good man,—almost
a great man. You have undoubt
ed character and ability, and you
have brought the University out
wonderfully.
Rut, Chancellor, for the sake of
youi'iku•esteem', drop thathaio of
false ilignity that is so unnecces-
sary. In other words, come down
off your pedestal, and stand orr
your own manhood. You’ve got
the character to do it, and you will
be liked a great deal better.
Now one more thing; at the be
ginning of your course in ethics
last fall you asked the class to be
prepared at the end of nine months
to answer you the question as to
whether it would be a good thing
to import a professor of philosophy
and relieve you of the work. For
for fear you will forget to ask the
question I will volunteer an answer
in the affirmative. Your “long
suit” is unquestionably adminis-
tration, anu I advise you to stick
to it for there’s work enough in that
department to “hold you awhile.”
The course in ethics and philoso
phy was dangerously near a farce
this year, in fact it was an utt^r
farce, but I trust you have already
realized this and will present to
the trustees the necessity of secur
ing a professor of philosophy—at
all events, tell them to give you a
surcease from attempting the im
possible.
Yours for life in earnest
AnUmnus
P. S. dont forget to chuck that
halo and get off the pedestal.
A. U.
J. Lustrat.
In the beginning, let me state
that my acquaintance with J. Lus
trat is limited to the two years of
classroom work I have had under
him and what I have to say is
based upon and has solely to do
with his relations with the students
of the University in an official ca
pacity.
It is not the purpose of the Bum
ble Bee to extend its field of ac
tion to the persoual or family af
fairs of anyone who may perchance
be dealt with herein.
Iu the sancity of his own home,
J. Lustrat may be a clever (in the
Southern sense) sort of fellow; in
the classroom as a teacher, or in
any of his activities as a member
of the faculty, J. Lustrat is an un
mitigated bigot, an unpleasant, re
pulsive little petty tyrant.
Ho hasn’t a single trait of man
hood (as a teacher) to commend
him to the merest respect of those
who are so unfortunately ignorant
as to elect French or Spanish,
He is a bully; his weapon of in
timidation is “more work,” Time
after time has ho threatened his
class with “more wort p*»f
not do better, zhentlemen.” His
slogan is “I weel give you ziro,
Meestaire x.” His manner, sneer
ing and insinuating as it is, is of
fensive to every student of any
manhood who comes under his rule.
Lustrat is unreasonable in his
demands. Mr. Trustee, you for
whose information the Bumble-
Bee buzzes, ask any member of
any class that Lustrat has con
ducted in the past two years if the
work required of him in the de
partment of Romance Languages
has not been far greater than that
demanded by any other school of
the Uuiversity. From all, the an
swer will be, “yes.” Ask them if
his requirements have not been
outrageously absurd. Necessita
ting hours of work every day that
should be devoted to other studies.
The unanimous answer will again
be, “yes.”
Now, Mr, Trustee, the members
of the Junior and Senior classes are
as a rule, hard-working men who
realize what they are at college for.
The majority of these men want a
symmetrical, well-rounded educa
tion. And they resent the atti
tude of anv professor who forces
them to labor on his special sub
ject to the exclusion of all other
work. This is what Lustrat at-
tempts to do, and does by mean
of the terrible threat, • Eef you db
not get up my French, I will throw
you.” Lustrat means by this, Mr.
Trustee, that he will deprive the
uufortunate of his pass, or perhaps
his diploma.
True, he speaks fairly intelligible|
English. But is this the only re-
quirem-nt of a university pro
fessor?
It is with reluctance that I make
the final charge against Lustrat,
Mr. Trustee, the hue and cry j but for the sake of° those wtuTfoU
against Lustrat is not raised be-j low in my footsteps the whole
cause we are lazy and want a j truth should be told. Lustrat’s
“snap.” John Morris requires a
tremendous amount of work on his
German, but he is just in his de
mands, and you hear little com
plaint. Col. Snelling exacts hard
work on his “math,” but he too
tempers his reqirement with con
sideration and justice. Bocock
makes his men labor and bo do
Strahan and all others, but they
are not unreasonable. So, don’t
for a minute entertain the idea that
I am moved to these words by a
puerile protest against work.
To give you an idea of his bull
headed, insane bigotry, I will tell
you a remark he made recently to
his Senior French class. It was
just at the close of a recitation and
a member of his class asked him
his opinion on the proposed adop
tion by the faculty, of the fifteen
hour per week classroom require
ment for the Junior and Senior
-Ar' -' V-—I ~~-r~~*T-^nr
were made he would double his
work. Inasmuch as the contem
plated action of the faculty was
for lightening the recitation work
and for giving the upper classmen
time for reading and research, Lus
trat’s statement deserves attention.
Lustrat is a foreigner. The fact,
perse. should not be cherished
against him for he is not responsi
ble for his nationality. But Lus
trat does not understand America
and Americans. He is not in sym
pathy with our customs, our ideals*
He is out of harmony with the
American young man., whom he is
supposed to teach. For this
reason, as much as any other, he
should not occupy his present
position. Lustrat might, perhaps,
make an ideal pedagogue iu France.
In Georgia he is an anomaly.
Lustrat’s education is not pro
found, nor is it very broad. He
may hold a degree from the Uni
versity of France. If so, that is
his only claim to culture. His
general information seems to be
con Sued to the idiosyncrasies of
the irregular French verb. His
knowledge of English and Ameri
can literature is conspicuous by its
non-existence. To this extent he
is incompetent to teach the young
character is not of the sort to in
spire those who come in contact
with him. I dont mean to insinu
ate that he is dishonest or immor
al. But Lustiat’s virtues are all
negative. He is an ethical nonen-
ity. Then he has serious vices
that impair him every way. He
drinks like a fish—but there is a
dissimilarity in the beverage,
Those who have had afternoon
recitations under him know that
he drinks so much wine or liquor
of some sort at dinner that he is in
a half-intoxicated stupor every
day. A nice example for young
men he is. And he consumes cig-
arett« after cigarette day and rnght
until his whole person reeks with
nicotine. To be frank with you,
I belive his brain has been serious
ly affected by his terrible intern-
perance, We who are supposed to
P/pht, to be inspired, by the per-
lw' o-RTriTerl
want men in the faculty. W«
want men of force, men of sobriety,
men of positive character, men
whom we can trust. The editors
of the Bumble Bee desire to say
that no particular ill-will toward
Lustrat prompts this article. We I
are about to bid farewell to our
college days and leave, forgetting
forever our troubles and woes in
the entrance into the hurly-
burly of real life. We have!
finished our courses in the Ro-
mauce languages, and have done|
forever with the insults and indig
nities of “the Frenchman,” He I
has done us all the harm he can
do, and personally we are willing I
to let the matter drop. But one
consideration moves us—and that
is the good of the institution and
those who follow us.
Gentlemen of the Board of Trus-
trees, request Lustrat’s resignation
and give us in his place a broad-
minded, cul tured, scholarly Amer
ican gentleman—a man whose in
fluence will be of as mu^h value to]
the college as is the intrinsic worth!
of his teaching ability. Such
man can be found—and he is needj