Joint Boards Will Name '50 Class Day Speakers

The Permanent Committee of the Class of 1950 last night disclosed it will junk the traditional elective system of naming Class Day speakers and substitute instead three selection boards composed mainly of faculty members.

The new departure, according to Jonathan M. Spivak, third marshall, has been adopted because of the large size of the Class of 1950 (about 1,600 members), which the Permanent Committee thinks would make the simple elective process unwieldy and inefficient.

Under the new plan, which Spivak says has the enthusiastic support of the faculty, three joint boards, each composed of three faculty members and two members from the Permanent or Class Day committee, would have final authority on choosing participants in Class Day exercises.

Five Performers

These participants are: the orator, who delivers a 10-to-15-minute address on a serious topic concerning the class; the Ivy orator, who delivers a humorous address of similar length; the odist, who writes two stanzas to the melody of "Fair Harvard"; the chorister, who sings the first verse of this song and leads the Class in the second verse, and the poet, who writes a short poem on any subject and who reads it during the exercises.

The Permanent Class Committee's plan calls for selection of the orator and Ivy orator by one joint board, selection of the odist and poet by a second, and selection of the chorister by a third.

Singing Ability Counts

There will be competition for all positions except that of chorister, which will be strictly selective "in view of the specialized skill needed in this position."

Final decision on these positions will be made on May 3, Spivak announced. Deadline for manuscripts of the poems and addresses and for chorister aspirants to declare their intentions is April 25. Poems and odes are to be handed in to Theodore Morrison '23, director of English A, at Warren House; the addresses, to Frederick C. Packard, Jr. '20, associate professor of Public Speaking, on the top floor of the Germanic Museum. A skeleton manuscript of five to seven minutes' duration should be submitted.

Candidates for chorister should inform G. Wallace Woodworth '24, professor of Music at the Music Building.

Spivak disclosed that the new system would be incorporated into the constitution of the Class of 1950 and that the Permanent Class Committee hopes it will become a policy for future classes.