Ends and means
Sir: Ian MacGregor states (in your issue of 20 December) that 'a university golden age' never existed. May I offer a few shreds of factual evidence?
Disorderly conduct among students can be found as far back as one cares to look. Socrates complained that the students of his time had 'bad manners, contempt for authority, and dis- respect for older people.' The town and gown troubles of Oxford were notorious.
So were some of the other extra-curricular activities of students—in 1422 a plea in the House of Commons described how 'divers manslaughters, murders, rapes, felonies, rob- beries, riots, conventicles, and other misdeeds have been committed afresh . . . as well by divers persons repairing to the city of Oxenford as by others dwelling in the city itself under the jurisdiction of the University there.'
Other countries, especially Germany, have similar or worse accounts to tell.
I sincerely hope, therefore, that Ian Mac- Gregor's article will remove, for once and all, the 'golden age' fallacy.
Dennis Ward Anchor Farm, Blubberhouses, nr. Otley, Yorks.
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