Sling Your Own

If the proposal for cafeteria service in the House is carried through, even the most particular students may soon find the art of slinging a loaded tray over their shoulders an integral part of their Harvard education. Suggested by the administration as a corollary to its application for the N. Y. A. funds, this plan has already raised considerable comment. A Student Council Committee, as well as a Faculty group, is now considering the advantages and disadvantages of this tradition-breaking proposal.

It has been estimated that if the maid service were abolished and a self-service system installed in the dining halls the student would save five cents a meal or forty dollars a year. The twenty-one meal rate could be cut from ten dollars to nine dollars; the fourteen meal rate could be cut from eight-fifty to seven dollars and seventy-five cents; and lastly the ten meal rate could be reduced from seven-fifty to seven dollars. One crew of maids would be retained for the weekly House dinners working in a different House every night. The system would have the additional advantage of letting members see what they are ordering, thus preventing considerable waste. This self-service plan takes on added significance when viewed in the light of a twenty-one meal rate which would be required for all House members. It has also been shown that if the cafeteria idea were adopted and all students in the Houses were required to take twenty-one meals a week the rate could be reduced from ten dollars to eight dollars a week. This plan would effect a savings of two dollars a week for fifty-one per cent of the House members. It is not to be lightly dismissed from consideration.

Substantial objections, however, are raised to the cafeteria plan. It would tend to destroy Mr. Harkness' concept of a "Dinner table education" as the whole meal process would be speeded up with the result that the dining room would lose much of its social character. Trays on the tables, and boys carrying food back and forth would add to the confusion. A new system of ventilation would have to be installed over the food counters lest the dining room smell like the kitchen. Members might well be unwilling to ask their guests to come to the House for a meal and sling their own hash. Last but not least is the argument that a self service system would mean the abrupt dismissal of almost all the maids.

The arguments against the system carry much weight. Whether the students would be willing to serve themselves for only a slight saving per week lies in the realms of speculation. Such a plan would destroy much of the social aspect of the House life. Of invaluable aid in solving the problem would be a poll of student opinion. The proposal should not be adopted unless there is overwhelming desire for it and unless no other more effective method of economizing can be discovered.