THE FRESHMEN COMMONS

Shall the rule compelling Freshmen to pay board in their dining halls be modified for those men who are earning expenses under circumstances that interfere with their attendance? Must the men who need money most be asked to pay for meals they cannot eat? Before answering this question, which is suggested in a communication appearing in this morning's CRIMSON, one must understand fully the Freshman Dormitory system which requires first year men to live together.

The University believes that coming to Harvard means something more than attending classes. Meeting other men, knowing them and their ideas, making life-long friends, are as truly important as "booklearning." What is more, Harvard believes that these things are so desirable that it owes them to every man. Just as the student is required to attend classes, so is he required to live for one year under conditions that make friendship with classmates easy, and foster class unity. The University wants to give this part of its education to poor men as well as to rich men, because a Harvard diploma implies more than so many examinations passed. It means that a graduate will have lived with his fellows in the dormitories and eaten with them in the dining halls as part of his education. For this reason no rule that holds together the Freshman Dormitory system should be changed under any circumstances; all men must be able to get the best that Harvard can give, if they are here at all.

Dean Yeomans is authority for saying that the University will take special interest in those few Freshmen who find eating at their halls a strain on their finances. Rather than change any part of the "commons" plan, it will do its best to help a man find some way of meeting expenses so that he need not be under the double handicap of having to earn his way through college at the risk of losing one of the most valuable things Harvard can give--the opportunity of becoming acquainted at the outset with the men who are to spend four years together in college.