THE HCUA CRUSADE

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

May I congratulate you on your thrilling and complete victory. Not since the New York Times' expose of Boss Tweed has any newspaper crusade been so unqualifiedly successful as your defeat of the HCUA. Others who consider that student government at Harvard is a waste of precious time have ignored it, but they are a lesser breed than you. Hardly has a day gone by when your courageous pages have not declared to all the world that the HCUA is a joke! Less dedicated editors might have been tempted to cooperate with University officials and "student leaders" in drawing up plans to improve student representation at Harvard, but you would never compromise. It would have been easy for you to wage the fight on the simple-minded terms of the HCUA leaders. You could have editorially discussed the role of student government at Harvard, and made serious suggestions for improvement. But that would have been ineffective. Nobody could argue the HCUA to death, but you could have laughed it to death. Let us relive the last few battles so you can take just credit for the victories.

Giving in to relentless pressure from you, the HCUA decided to replace itself and submitted a proposed constitution to the college for consideration. In the month preceding the referendum, at least five House Committees passed resolutions endorsing the new constitution and none were opposed to it. Of course, you would never report this as it just is not newsworthy. After all, these committees are only the elected representatives of the Harvard Houses. But when, on the day before the referendum, a few sophomores said they did not like the proposed constitution because it was weak, you responded with a full column, page one, lead article. You hoped that this last-minute publicity would foil the HCUA, but it was not enough. However, an assist from the freshmen, whom both you and the HCUA had forgotten, brought victory and you could laugh. "The HCUA could not even abolish itself."

It was close and your victory was not sure, but you had only begun to ridicule. For want of anyone else to do the job, the HCUA conducts the Class Marshal elections. These men are to be the core of the permanent class committee, which plans commencement, keeps the class in touch with Harvard, and is responsible for reunions and fund raising. What a perfect object for ridicule! Imagine anyone wanting to go to commencement, or keep in touch with Harvard! You could conduct two crusades with one sword. You could twist the sword in the body of the HCUA and use it to batter this silly Class Marshal tradition.

And how perfectly you did it! What better mockery than to have Faye Levine, one of your own, run for Class Marshal with your flawless argument, "She gets a degree from Harvard University." Perhaps people will forget that students from the Law School, Medical School and GSAS (including women) also get Harvard diplomas and even march in the commencement procession. Nobody will remember that Radcliffe College and Harvard College are two of many schools in Harvard University. But it worked, people did forget and there was Faye in the Boston Globe. While she was obviously ineligible and probably did not want the position, the whole affair kept the HCUA on your front page.

Everything was perfect, and on Wednesday morning, after your hard and dedicated work to keep the Marshal election from being simple, you could say that "The Class Marshal election should be a simple process," and grin at the HCUA.

Your victory over the HCUA is now sure and ranks ahead of similar victories over Dean Monro and morals, Dustin Burke and student earnings, and H-R Combined Charities and charity in general. It seems impossible that anyone at Harvard would be so naive as to have any sense of commitment to anything other than intellectualism or freedom of the press. Your ridicule of any such commitment has brought victory, but the battle has been hard. You have fought valiantly and guarded the sacred freedom of the press.

Despite your victories, or perhaps because of them, CRIMSON prestige is reaching what must be a low point in its glorified history. But it would be foolish for you to let such considerations end your remarkable crusades. Instead, I would suggest that you continue to ridicule commitment. You have defeated the HCUA. Why not move on to the naive bureaucrats who run Phillips Brooks House? John S. Smith '65