Briggs' Last Stand

When the Rules Committee of the Radcliffe Government Association recommends tomorrow that any student past her freshman year be allowed to sign out till any hour, it will run into a squall of opposition from a Briggs Hall contingent. The group contends that most 'Cliffies cannot regulate their social lives without recourse to a set of stringent rules, and concludes that the College should retain its present restrictions. Their stand is short-sighted and does not deserve to be taken seriously by anyone concerned with Radcliffe's future as a leader in women's education.

There is little evidence that the average Radcliffe girl is not prepared to take responsibility for her own behavior. The College's current regulations are far from restrictive; except for first-term freshmen, all students may sign out till 1 a.m. every night. The proposed change represents not a revolutionary move but a logical step in the College's gradual advance toward a system of rules in keeping with Radcliffe's forward-looking educational policy.

The Briggs Hall group has expressed great concern over the emotional problems of the girl who, under the new system, would no longer be able to avoid unpleasant situations by obeying the rules. Its members refused to realize that Radcliffe has never attempted to shelter them from the painful process of making decisions, whether social or academic. The belief that any system of rules is an adequate substitute for individual responsibility is simply self-deception.

Apparently, the opponents of change are more worried about Radcliffe's reputation than about the quality of its education. They would rather endorse hypocrisy than run the risk of raised eyebrows from those who always object to giving women the same freedom and responsibility as men. But they are wrong, for Radcliffe owes its current prominence to the courage of its educational experiments, past and present. Far from succumbing to social standards, Radcliffe has traditionally helped to remold them along progressive lines. Those who would claim timidity as a virtue are hardly doing a service to the College.

Contrary to the claims of the Briggs Hall residents, no one is advocating wild irresponsibility. The minority who indulge in behavior unacceptable to either their parents or the College are hardly going to be prevented from it by the present rules or by the proposed ones. The cowardly few should not deprive more mature students of the chance to educate themselves. It is about time that Radcliffe did away with the last vestiges of boarding-school morality and proved itself to be, socially as well as intellectually, a woman's Harvard.