Union Functions as Center of Social Life for 1937 Described by Graduate

The following article on the Harvard Union and its part in the Freshman Year was written for the Crimson by Richard A. Stout '29, retiring Graduate Secretary of the Union and former president of the Crimson. Edward A. Mays '32 is the newly appointed Graduate Secretary.

The class of 1937 is the third Freshman Class to live in the historic Yard and to have the Union all to itself. Following the Classes of 1935 and 1936, which were the first classes to make the transition from the old Freshman Dormitories on the Charles, the entering class is the beneficiary of the constructive work its predecessors did in establishing new first-year traditions, especially in the Union.

Without exaggeration it can be said that the Union is the social center of first-year life. Under one roof in its large dining hall, in its common rooms, its libraries, and its game rooms, there will take place as the year gets under way, the gradual integration of hundreds of new Harvard men from many parts of the world with highly diversified backgrounds and interests into another class unit. This is because it is in the Union rather than in the classrooms or on the athletic field that the men of 1937, those living at home as well as those in the Yard, will mingle in greatest numbers, meeting not only each other, but establishing valuable and interesting contacts with their deans, professors and instructors acting as Associates of the Class, advisers and proctors. Practically every influence of the University is to be found within the traditional atmosphere of the building.

Higginson Donor

The Union was built in 1901 with funds donated by Major Henry Lee Higginson of Boston, who also gave Soldiers Field to the University and founded the Boston Symphony. It was Major Higginson's purpose to present to the University a building where "the freest and fullest intercourse between the students" would be promoted. The Freshman Union Committee of the Class of 1935 had this ideal in mind when it took as its objective "the development of the social, educational and cultural potentialities of the Union." While this ambitious program fell short of complete realization, the Union and its friendly atmosphere assumed an important position in the affections of 1935 men. This spirit was taken up by the men of 1936 and carried to a point nearer to the ideal of the donor.

To appreciate the many facilities the Union offers for a multitude of activities and the concomitant social contact which is so important in first-year college life if interpreted in the broadest sense, one has only to make a brief tour of the building. Last year in the Small Dining Room, as distinguished from the Large Dining Room and the Rotunda, the Class of 1936 had its French, German and Latin tables where men could converse during the meals in the particular language in which they were interested. The Large Dining Room was the scene of last year's Freshman entertainment, Freshman Smoker and Freshman Jubilee. Piano recitals and motion picture shows were given in the living room downstairs. In the upstairs living room, at the far end of the hall, a series of informal talks by prominent professors on topics of current interest was sponsored by last year's Union Committee. It was in this room that Harvard's famous "Copey" gave his Christmas reading exclusively for the first-year men. The Debating Council also used this room for its meetings and forums.

Every first-year man will find it worth a few minutes to glance into the Union-Library, which Professor Copeland has called "the finest gentlemen's library in America." This library is at the right at the head of the stairs on the second floor. It must be distinguished from the History 1 and Government 1 reading room on the left. The latter is a specialized course library, while the Union Library contains a fine collection of books for general reading. It is interesting to browse among the stalls and examine the old and new volumes, all of wide intellectual appeal.

Union Committee

Someone might well ask the question, "What voice have the Freshmen in the affairs of the Union, which of course vitally concern them?" The answer is that the Class is represented by the Freshman Union Committee, composed of first-year men selected on the basis of dormitory representation by the deans and proctors. Its duty is to co-operate with the Graduate Secretary of the Union in managing Union activities. The names of men chosen for the 1937 Union Committee will be announced in the CRIMSON at an early date and complaints and suggestions can be made to one's dormitory committeeman or else to the Secretary of the Union whose office hours are always posted.

The Classes of 1935 and 1936 made the most of the many opportunities afforded by the Union for broadening social and intellectual pursuits. It is only natural that their successor in the Yard and Union, the Class of 1937, will wish to do the same, having the same end of class unification through social contact in view, even though employing means to that end more in conformity with its class individuality.