IN NOV ANG

Recently University Hall issued a dictum to the effect that the Harvard Seal may no longer be used on any but official documents. The statement, though not of world-shaking importance, nevertheless has that about it which irks the Harvard man proud of his right to display the seal of the greatest university in the land.

It may no longer head the stationery of undergraduates, proud of the gleaming red seal which is the symbol proclaiming his superiority to other men. It must be out from banners and doubtless divorced from the deadly bookend, that its presence be a not too obvious prop of learning. As a substitute the Harvard arms is offered--the seal minus the circumferential lettering and the Christo et Ecclesiae, but the very shape itself must be altered from the round. What remains is a castrated version, devoid of all meaning and shorn of he grandeur of tradition.

There is neither rhyme nor reason in this action. The seal in itself has long since lost whatever practical value it may once have possessed. Only as a living symbol does it acquire significance. Confined to diplomas and official stationery it forwith becomes a museum piece, completely stripped of the meaning which constant use by Harvard men confers upon it. And it is difficult to imagine who should have more right to its use or pride in its display than the undergraduates and graduates of the University.