DEPARTMENT REPLIES

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The issue is presented in the above letter too broadly. As the writer of the letter undoubtedly knows the French Club at Harvard University differs from other student organizations at Harvard in that it is under the auspices of the French Department. I, personally, would interpret the term auspices in the following way: The Chairman appoints a faculty adviser and sees to it that the interests of all French students who wish to join the French Club are served. Occasionally, if I am rightly informed about past procedures, the Chairman will have to express his doubts as to the advisability of selecting a certain play to be performed by the French Club. Finally, the Chairman will invite his colleagues to occasionally come to the meetings of the French Club, mix with the students and work towards a close relationship between students and faculty.

Under circumstances that are not quite normal, the Chairman will have to interface more directly. Such circumstances existed last semester and at the beginning of this semester: This office had received several complaints by students that their interests in the French Club were neither respected nor furthered. In the discussions preceding the selection of the play to be performed by the French Club neither Harvard nor Radcliffe students received proper consideration. The most decisive event, however, was the prospective election of officers for the present term. The Faculty Advisor, Dr. Simches, informed the Chairman that only seven members were present during the election meeting; three of them were officers. Such an election could hardly be called a fair or open one. One might perhaps call it a self-perpetuating election. The Chairman, in consultation with the Faculty Advisor, recommended that broader elections be hold and that students who had formerly been members of the French Club and had lost interest in it, should be invited to join the Club again and take an active part in the election. All our decisions were discussed freely and openly with Dean Watson, and at every point the existing rules concerning undergraduate associations at Harvard were taken into careful consideration.

The information contained in the preceding letter concerning the sudden shift in the date set for the election and of the time at which the President of the Club was informed of the decision of the Chairman of the Department as well as a few other details are not stated accurately. However, it seems unnecessary to go into a point by point refutation.

As was stated in my previous letter to the President of the French Club, the former administrative officers are free to set up another organization. Herbert Dieckmann   Chairman,   Remance Languages Department