WHERE TO DINE

Segregation at meals continues to obstruct that free intercourse between student and tutor which is one of the most important phases of the tutorial system. While it is true that in some Houses the regular tutors tables have fallen into an encouraging desuetude, and relations have become less strained, the majority of tutors, particularly in Eliot and Leverett, preserve their social indolence and still sit comfortably aloof in the dining halls.

If the question were simply one of conviviality and the pleasant life, tutors and students alike might preserve a passive attitude without any serious consequences. But the distinction between resident and non-resident tutors was certainly intended to be more real than is implied in a mere use of House accommodations for board and lodging, and an occasional timid glance into the common room. Great care was exercised in selecting a well balanced staff of tutors for each House to provide appropriate cultural leaven. But this can become practical only through the easy association for which the House dining halls give ample opportunity.

Although it was the institution of tutors' tables just at the formative stage in House development which produced the present unsatisfactory situation, it has been continued solely through inertia. After the first disagreeable shock of novelty has worn off, tutors will find familiarity not unpleasant, and a more intimate knowledge of student thought and problems an invaluable aid in their work. The chimerae of embarrassment or boredom should not cause a device as expensive as the resident tutor to fall in its fundamental purpose.