Out Like a Lamb

Probably it was the Olde Farmers' Alamanack that coined the familiar routine about March's lion-like entrance and its lamb-like leavetaking. Yet no one should ignore the possibilities of this phrase, for it could apply to more than the weather.

When March was first upon us, relations between the Deans and the Council were best explained in terms of the elements--lowering, with a few ill winds to punctuate the murkiness. With the memory of the parietal rules debate still fresh, and disputes over other rules governing undergraduate life by no means forgotten, Council President Richard M. Sandler had just proposed a rather drastic idea, that of permanent student representation on Faculty committees.

The strained atmosphere has lightened considerably now, and the question of Faculty-student relations seems to be easing its way to settlement--not soon enough for the end of March perhaps, but soon enough to remind one of the Almanack's proviso. The Council has just heard a report, based on interviews with various Faculty members, which indicates that the Council would be welcome at meetings of Faculty committees.

The idea of permanent representation died practically on Sandler's lips, but the Council members who wrote the Report gave it an extra kick just to make sure. They suggested instead that in every case where the Council might consider a personally presented report advantageous, it ask for a hearing before the appropriate committee.

This is an excellent proposal and one which the Faculty will probably accept; yet there should be a better procedure than going hat in hand to a committee every time the Council wishes an audience, one which would be more secure and predictable. The Council should petition the Faculty to approve a rule permitting Council members to discuss important policy issues with the proper Faculty committees. If the Faculty agreed, then the principle would be on the books, so to speak, and not subject to the misunderstandings and shifting, diffuse interpretations that have confounded the Gentleman's Agreement. Moreover, there is less chance that gradual disuse would erode it away, for the rule would be in writing for all to see, rescindible only by a clear and publicized Faculty vote.

What constitutes importance, of course, must be left up to the committee involved, for it would be too much to expect committees to open wide their doors every time a Council member appeared on the steps of University Hall. Yet the line between importance and triviality is sharp enough, and good faith on each side should ensure a minimum of friction.