Groups Ground Their Messages

Never let it be said that Harvard students can't read the writing on the wall--or on the sidewalk.

Student groups from the Callbacks to the Lampoon to Peer Contraceptive Counselors are bypassing traditional kiosks this fall to spread their messages with colorful posters and drawings on the ground.

Technically, the sidewalk writing breaks University rules. In an April 27, 1992 letter from Assistant Dean of Students Ellen H. Towne to the leaders of all students organizations, the University explicitly forbade the practice.

Section 5 of the letter reads, "Chalking the sidewalks is strictly prohibited for it too defaces the University. In most cases, organizations are responsible for the cost of the clean up, which can be quite expensive."

Taping down posters is also punishable with a fine of up to $25 fine and a loss of postering privileges.

However, many groups seem not to know or not to care about postering restrictions.

Students interviewed yesterday were generally not aware of existing policy and assumed that the high incidence of postering and chalking the ground meant it was legal.

Susan S. Lee '96, an Undergraduate Council candidate, said that she decided to write messages on the ground because she "noticed a lot of signs on the ground before." She also said that wall signs she had posted had been falling off, but "nothing can fall off the ground."

Sourav Goswani '96, another undergraduate Council hopeful, agreed with Lee. "I had posted them up in some of the buildings, [but] I saw a lot of people putting them on the ground," he said.

Goswani said he does plan to pick up his signs eventually--not to appease University officials, but for a higher cause. "I want to be environmentally correct," he said.

Still, Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III has more local concerns. He asked that students stop chalking on the sidewalks "because someone must come along and clean it up."