One-Sided Campaign

In the space of four days the W.S.S.F. relief drive has gone more than half way toward its proposed goal of $20,000, with a total to date of something over $15,000. While such striking proof of student enthusiasm toward an urgent cause seems unusually favorable, one fact remains far less encouraging: contributions from the Faculty and Graduate Schools have been shamefully small. More than $12,000 of the current total has come from undergraduates.

Probably the chief reason for this is the increased difficulty among the Faculty and Graduate School of conducting a person-to-person canvass. Six thousand letters have been sent out to faculty members and nonresident graduate students, but something about it makes an impersonal letter far too easy to slip quietly into the nearest wastebasket. Admittedly some of these letters went out late, and admittedly graduate students are on the average poorer per capita than undergraduates. But for the full professors and associate professors, who can certainly afford a reasonable contribution, any excuse is indeed small. The drive includes the entire University with the single exception of the Business School, and there is no reason why the College should support so disproportionate a share.

Ideally, an increased effort should be made to contact more graduate students and members of the Faculty in person. Failing this, it is up to these people to acknowledge their part in the W.S.S.F. drive on their own conscience, and to realize that a form letter can carry just as much urgency as the most persuasive door-to-door solicitor.