The Dangers of the College Cane Rush
The colleges and universities are now in the time of their annual opening. Incident to this opening, one of the practices of the students is the “rush,” usually “the cane rush.” Following is a description of one that occurred at Rutgers College, September 21, as reported in the New York Times of the 23d:— Fritz Wittig, a member of the freshman class of Rutgers College, was injured in a cane rush here last night, and it is thought that he will not recover. The rush was one of the old-fashioned kind, a cane being given to about forty members of the freshman class, who placed it on the ground and formed a ring around it, guarding it with their bodies. An equal number of sophomores charged in two V-shaped wedges to secure it.
The rush continued for fifteen minutes, at the end of which time a count of hands showed that the sophomores had won. When the sophomores were dragged from the heap of struggling students by the upper classmen, several freshmen were taken from the pile unconscious. All of them, however, revived quickly, with the exception of young Wittig. He was carried to the chapter house of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and medical aid was summoned. Drs. Williamson and Smith worked all night and all day on the young man, but failed to restore consciousness. They found that he had suffered a concussion of the brain, and held out small hope for his recovery. He was still unconscious this evening. When a college allows such practices as that, what can that college do in the way of instruction to counteract the evil principles of which such practices are but the manifestation? How far are such practices removed from barbarism, not to say savagery?