More Woollies

To the Editors of the Crimson:

The Committee for the Restoration of the Woolly Mammoth certainly has nothing against humor. Even the most serious of causes can be funny, and the Committee took no offense at the satire implicit in the SASC's "Hey, hey, ho, ho, blood on your portfolio" antics. We admit that some of our slogans, such as "Derek Bok, Derek Bok, Let the woolly mammoth walk," were trite, and could stand some mockery. Now, however, the fun has gone too far. Victoria G.T. Bassetti's editorial in the Oct. 28 Crimson, far from being humorous, is seriously offensive. Parodies of mammoth slogans are funny, but the antiapartheid enthusiasts evidentally do not know when to stop. Extinction is not funny. The Johannesburg jokesters can crack their witticisms, and then walk away from the issue, but a woolly mammoth cannot walk away from its problems. It's extinct. Have some sensitivity. Majestic prehistoric beasts cruelly killed and frozen in blocks of ice is not exactly "dumb college humor."

On the subject of humor, the Cape Town caperers should not despair over the delay in the reply to their letter. It is a sad fact that attempts at humor are sometimes taken seriously, and President Bok may have been confused by the deadpan style of the "Harvard-Radcliffe Alumni for Divestiture" letter, and put off by the list of 300 plus signatures, a realistic but tedious touch. The Committee wishes the antiracist lambasters well in their drive to relax mammoth tensions with some satire, but we would appreciate a little consideration. Glenn McDonald '89   Henry Riggs '89