SWEAT SOCK ELYSIUM

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

I make the following comments in reference to the proposal to admit Radcliffe students to Lamont Library:

(1) I find the masculine desire for a sanctuary free from feminine distractions both reasonable and flattering. There exists no feminine counterpart to either exclusive men's clubs or the French Foreign Legion. R.I.P., and it might therefore be fair to note a probable physiological difference in male and female reactions to extrinsic stimuli, a difference which would ably account for his charmingly vociferous demand for a haven from the havoc wrought by a pair of flashing (female) legs. I am sympathetic.

(2) Lamont's over-crowded studying space speaks strongly in favor of H.U.C.'s position. If the facilities are insufficient for the students they now serve, it seems irrational to over-crowd them further. I suspect the shapely advocates of such a step most probably have yet a little of the militant feminist in them, which grows red-eyed at the very thought of a masculine prerogative. The number of libraries in or near the Yard is somewhat impressive and can certainly accommodate all stranded 'Cliffies without the help of Sweat Sock Elysium. Therefore, again, I am sympathetic.

(3) However, while I can assure you that small is the number of 'Cliffies who lament through cruel, sleepless nights their debarment from the untold wonders of ol' Lamont, many are they who have gnashed their teeth in furious despair that of the two existing copies of a desired book, one was, as is wonted, mysteriously missing from the Widener stacks, and the other was cackling demonically from the hallowed shelves of Lamont Library.

Therefore, I propose that the reading rooms of Lamont Library should remain closed to women for the two reasons mentioned above, but I feel just as strongly that all books in the Lamont collection should be allowed to circulate freely throughout the student body. For, as the library administration so aptly stated, the library is there to serve the students, and some of the students, I have observed, are remarkably female. Mary Moss, '69