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THE MAROON TIGER
Page Seven
A REPORT OF THE TWELFTH ANNUAL
CONGRESS OF THE NATIONAL
STUDENT FEDERATION
OF AMERICA
Editors Note: The following is a report of the
official representative of the student body to the
recent N. S. F. A. congress and may or may not
express the opinion of the student body or reflect
the editorial opinion of the Tiger.
Having been elected delegate by the Student
Activities Committee, the official representatives
of the student body of Morehouse College, I at
tended the twelfth annual congress of the Nation
al Student Federation of America held in New
York, New York, from December 8, 1936 to Jan
uary 1, 1937. The headquarters were located at
the Hotel Victoria. The host college was New York
University—School of Commerce. There were 175
students present, representing 98 American col
leges and universities. Among these were 6 Ne
groes, who represented two nationally known Ne
gro institutions, Howard University of Washing
ton, D. C., and our beloved college.
The congress did not run with great smooth
ness because of the limited amount of time given
to preparation. This was due to a last minute
shifting of the congress from Dallas, Texas, in
spite of difficulties, one can say that the affair
was a success.
The central theme of the congress was “The
Student Within A Democracy”. This subject was
chosen because it was felt that as a prime train
ing for citizenship and leadership within democ
racy, student government presents much of the
diversity and many of the problems and responsi
bilities of democratic government itself. In con
nection with this theme we were concerned with
the essential problems of student government.
These problems are structure, finance, power,
discipline, curriculum, relation to other campus
groups, and relation to faculty and trustees. Such
problems as student rights, honor system, the
primary youth problem, religion, the undergrad
uate citizen, graduates and citizenship, military
program of the government, and foreign affairs
were also discussed. Many questions were raised
with each problem.
In order that these problems might be given
adequate attention, the congress split into many
small groups. Each delegate was assigned to a
commission, and in some cases one worked with
two or more commissions. My commissions were
on Student Rights and the Federal youth program.
Each commission was supplied with an agenda as
a guide for discussion. Each commission had as a
guest an expert to aid in giving the factual back
ground necessary for the difficult points on the
agenda. Each delegate expressed his views on the
stated problems and told of the local setup on and
about his or her campus. Despite the many evils
of our government, I must admit, without con
ceit, that ours is superior to many. However, it
was through these means that we were able to
draw up reports or resolutions within the com
missions. The reports were submitted to a draft
ing committee, which made sure each report was
in acceptable legal form. The drafting committee
did not alter the meaning of any section of a re
port. These reports were in turn submitted to a
plenary congress. There to be debated, amended,
rejected or passed.
The following are resolutions as adopted by the
twelfth annual congress of the National Federa
tion of America:
(1) On International Relations—
Whereas, world tension demands constructive
action on the part of all nations; and whereas,
with development of international trade and com
munications‘the United States must of necessity
be vitally concerned with the world situation; and
whereas, the United States can exert most in
fluence as a leading economic power and can only
maintain that influence by absetntion from the
use of the war methods or a policy leading there
to; be it resolved, that we favor extension of the
present reciprocal trade agreements, the adop
tion of a trade-at-your-own-risk policy to avoid
the danger of being drawn into a profitless and
economically disastrous war, and the intelligent
application of an embargo to be used as a negative
weapon to prevent, insofar as it is possible, war
in the world at large; and be it further resolved,
that we favor cooperation with an international
body constituted not to preserve an artificial
“status quo” but to secure an equitable adjust
ment of world problems; although we do not fav
or positive intervention, economic or military, in
support of any political party or unreal principle;
and be it further resolved that we favor an in
telligent and exhaustive investigation into the
meaning of the phrase “adequate national de-