...indebtedness to the Enlightenment: "We would invest no class of our fellow students with factitious advantages, but would place all upon an equal footing in running the race of honorable distinction." These sentiments appealed to students elsewhere, and by 1847 similar organizations from Union, Amherst,...

...declaration contained these memorable words: "We would invest no class of our fellow-students with factitious advantages, but would place all upon an equal footing...race of honorable distinction. The only superiority we acknowledge is the superiority of merit." But this opposition society was not merely a protest....

...action founded on principle. We would have no class of our fellow students invested with factitious advantages, but would place all upon an equal footing in running the race of honorable distinction. We, therefore ... do agree to form ourselves into a society for the purpose of counteracting the evil...