Keep on the Grass

Lovers and little children are unwelcome around the University these days. Yard cops are under orders to chase away anyone who so much as crouches on the inviting green grass. The Yard was beginning to look too much like a public park, said officials.

Parks are known generally for their friendly, relaxed atmosphere, and it is hard to see why the University should be so anxious to keep such feeling out of the Yard. Lounging on soft grass is one of the most elemental of human pleasures, and it should not be forbidden without the strongest reasons.

But more important is the traditional function of the Yard as an intellectual respite from the hurried pace of the classrooms. For over three centuries, students have lounged, even sat under the elms, and have no doubt drawn spiritual enrichment from their sojourn.

Now it is proposed to turn the Yard into a pristine monument, with its broad blotches of green unmarred by any students or local citizens resting comfortably. And over it all will be heard the lament of petty police authority: "I don't make the rules; I just carry them out."