The Why and Wherefore

Somewhere amid the mass of publicity, documents, and delegates that have accumulated along with the inception of the National Students Association, something got lost. This was the list of answers to those who want to know the what-good-is-it and the why-vote-for-it of NSA. A reconstruction of that list is necessary. Without it, NSA may not receive the strong majority on the ballots today and tomorrow that is needed to convince the Student Council that undergraduate backing warrants ratification.

Question number one: Why vote for an organization that is going to serve as a nationwide megaphone for raucous, political minorities! Answer: Vote for it because it will not be political. It cannot be political. At the Chicago meeting last December, political groups, which formed a large percentage of the delegates present, were hushed to a quiet, ten percent voice. The Constitution, put together in Madison early this fall, cut out factional student groups completely. No religious or political organizations will receive representation in NSA. The Association, and its regional boards, will consist only of representatives from entire student bodies.

Question number two: Why vote for a theoretical set-up--political or non-political--that will effect nobody but its delegates! Answer: Vote for NSA because is may well become the first student organization in the history of the, United States that will touch the majority of individual students. A list of its projected activities include work on student employment, student exchange with foreign countries, and racial discrimination in education.

Question number three: What good is there to an organization that has been speechifying for a year while getting at none of its objectives! Answer: On the national level, NSA's main work will be done through its Regional Offices, which were created only two months ago. On the international level, objectives have been approached. NSA is working with the State Department on implementation of the Fulbright Bill, which will provide European educations for many Americans. Last summer, it was largely responsible for the student ships which carried several thousand students to Europe and back.

Question number four: Who pays for NSA! You do--to the extent of allowing the Student Council to utilize about one twenty-fifth of whatever you donated to the Council Fund. This amounts to $950 of the Council's $25,00 budget, and includes dues, delegate expenses, and the cost of publishing reports.

Put is all together, and you have something that costs each individual little and that might become America's first vital national student organization. In the creation of NSA, Harvard delegates have been notable for their leadership. At this point, it would neither be consistent nor sensible to fail to support NSA.