CLASS DAY CONFERENCE

Mention of Commencement or of Class Day made the day before the Yale football game will doubtless catch many members of the University off guard. A natural reaction will be to read the news with a cold and hasty eye before passing on to the Harvard starting line-up. And again, all things considered, it was not so long ago that glistening white canvas billowed and welled above Sever Quadrangle, while below, Silk hats mingled with or mine hoods during the advancement of certain men from one stage in the society of scholars to another.

The officers of the Senior Class, and the class secretary with whom they are to meet to discuss plans for next June's Class Day, and especially Mr. Morse, the Purchasing Agent, merit commendation particularly from the graduating class and from the alumni for the forehanded manner in which a new approach to the Class Day problem is being made.

Last year's Class Day was a none too laudable example of the way in which that part of Commencement may be conducted. The excellence of the individual speeches was somewhat wasted on an over-large expanse of grey concrete. Even the bowl end of the Stadium, as used for these exercises, is quite cheerless unless generously filled by the fair onlookers who smilingly await the 'three times three for the ladies' given by the marching alumni on the turf below. The parade itself was too a small, largely because many of the alumni had Class Day afternoon scheduled as an afternoon in the country or on waters of long suffering Massachusetts Bay. The traditional element of the exercises was in the background.

Class Day originally was the occasion at which the Seniors joined the 'vast body of alumni,' handing over to some representative of the Freshman class the traditional banner. Last year both of these simple portions of the exercises were slighted. Aside from the speeches, the most whole-hearted part of the afternoon was the confetti, or better grass battle in which a siege of pink paper concluded a somewhat incomplete occasion. It was with difficulty that a Freshman was found to accept the time-honored banner.

The enlivening of Class Day, its rejuvenation, does not entail unearthing a new traditions which have died a natural death. The problem is one of cultivating those which already exist, and of providing further embellishments for eye, ear, and wit to meet the anticipation of those who attend. The rush of Seniors to graduate schools, or to fortunately obtained employment lessons the outstanding significance of Commencement to a large number of men. Class Day can be revamped and returned to a semblance of its former hearty self if the exercises are arranged to provide more substantial nourishment for the Harvard tempered wit and humor of the graduating class and the alumni. The new plan to bring together at this early date representatives of both these groups should accomplish much in the commendable effort to make Class Day once again an outstanding part in Commencement Week.