NSA Rebuttal

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

It was very interesting to note that Harvard Student Council's decision to withdraw from the United States National Student Association was based on the belief that "Harvard's problems were of a 'different' nature from those at other colleges."

Can it be that Harvard students have no interest in the financial benefits--through tax reduction and or scholarships--recently considered in Washington? The absence of Harvard at the NSA regional conference on Federal Aid to Education last February might seem to indicate a lack of such interest. Such discussion is the foundation for statements made by NSA officers when called to testify before Congressional committees. The cost, including transportation for one delegate to this February meeting was approximately $6.00.

Could it be that Harvard students are not interested in furthering independent study, interest in the teaching profession, and opportunities for undergraduates to teach? The undergraduate committee which is now teaching in local high schools had only just begun its work last spring. Yet it was not informed of the opportunity to meet students from colleges already engaged in such a project at the Trinity College conference last April. In fact, no one from Harvard was at this regional meeting. This conference was part of a program financed by a $24,500 grant from the Ford Foundation. Although Ivy League and Seven College Conference institutions have problems which are "different" from those at other colleges, Trinity, Mount Holyoke, and Cornell are "pilot campuses" in this program.

And, for the record, the Columbia University Student Council which approves Harvard's withdrawal is a graduate organization, not comparable to Harvard Student Council and not to be confused with the Columbia Undergraduate Council, an active member of NSA.

The publication of Mrs. Larkin's letter on housing discrimination destroyed another illusion: that NSA's work on the racial integration issue "does not directly affect Harvard." The Student Council might inform PBH that NSA has in its files accounts of the means used by other northern colleges in dealing with discrimination in its more subtle forms.

If Harvard does not wish to take advantage of the resources of NSA, then certainly its membership is not worth the annual dues. ALICE PEPPER   RADCLIFFE NSA DELEGATE, 1957-1958