The announcement by the Student Council that it will investigate the possibilities of abolishing the November and April Hour examinations comes as a welcome bit of news. It not only signifies that the Council itself is awake to a problem that has been troubling the University for several years, but that the new President himself, as well as Dean Hanford, is not afraid to question at once the merits of an institution that was left untouched by his predecessor.

Coming as they do, late in October and March, the Hour Examinations have interfered just at a time when both the instructor and student have settled down, and wish to forge ahead in the work, and not to be held back by reviewing for a glorified quiz. The requirement that definite marks be turned in at these times to the Dean's office has only served in the past to annoy the professor, frighten the Freshman, and insult the Senior. By abolishing, moreover, this purely technical requirement, the instructor will be afforded far more freedom in running his course.

The significance of the change, if made, will be great. It will not be simply a reform which all agree should be made; it will be one of the key steps toward building up a university in which the student is no longer an individual at the mercy of academic red-tape, but one who is recognized as being able to look after himself.