TICKETS REVISION SUGGESTED

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

After standing in line over an hour for football tickets, I have come to the conclusion that the present system of distribution is inadequate, inefficient, and uneconomical.

I suggest that students be permitted to place from one to four bursar's cards, an order for additional tickets, one a self-addressed envelope in the H.A.A. office. Seniors could leave their envelopes in the office on Mondays, Sophomores on Tuesdays, etc. The charge for additional tickets should be placed on the term bill, and the processed envelopes could be mailed back to the student with his bursar's card and tickets in one day. This plan might be used to supplement the present "personalized" system, or it might replace it entirely.

In addition to the problem of long lines, I feel that another problem to be solved is the restriction of "free" tickets to undergraduates who will use these tickets personally. Many of the "free" tickets which would ordinarily not be claimed are given or sold at special reduced rates to graduate students and other local and visiting males. The students who would not attend the game simply lend the interested football fans who are not undergraduates their bursar's cards. Students who are apathetic or uncertain whether they wish to attend a game have their friends call for their tickets, and will very often waste them. Students who are sincerely interested in the game and the team are deprived of better seats because of waste, free distribution, and profiteering. There is no good reason why we should be forced to see the Ohio game from the same seats we saw the Yale game last year. I do no interpret this increased turnover of tickets as a sudden increase in interest, and I don't believe it is entirely due to the fact that the increased tuition cost includes the price of athletic tickets. I think a nominal service charge for processing free tickets would discourage some people from obtaining tickets they are not certain they will use.

If the staff of the ticket office processes the envelopes instead of dealing with the students personally, I feel they will be able to process most of the envelopes of a class in one day. Any additional secretarial expenses would be covered by the "service charge." In addition, the H.A.A. would have enough capital to work one week in advance, rather than selling the tickets for two games at the same time. This system might even help the H.A.A. in its efficiency campaign. I am sure it would help eliminate some of the ticket racketeering, and would save the Harvard undergraduate body about 1500 man-hours a week of standing in long lines in the sultry basement of the Harvard Union.

v. Martin Brownstein '56