REGULATION OF ACTIVITIES.

At a time when the fever for the regulation of undergraduate participation in extra-curriculum activities has enveloped both Yale and Princeton, it is well that the problem be discussed with respect to conditions at the University. On the surface it seems desirable that as many students as possible should hold offices, that the burden of the activities should not fall on a few shoulders, and that the entire time of a few office holders should not be given for the benefit of the remainder of the student body. But it is doubtful whether the artificial method in vogue at New Haven and to be voted on at Princeton is best suited for obtaining the end in view.

To limit arbitrarily a man's capacity for work, to restrain ability, is non-congruent with the ideals and aims of Harvard. An undergraduate may go whither his powers lead him; no cage is placed about him. Our sister universities sacrifice the individual for the entire group, when, if they would but seek them, tasks for all would be found, without limiting the exceptional undergraduate.

Harvard, however, does not choose a small group to act as trustees for the student body. Officers of every description are widely distributed throughout the four classes. The intensity of competition for all important positions automatically impose the necessary restrictions. For instance, Yale forbids--and Princeton proposes to--one man from holding two major sport managerships. Rarely, if ever, has there been a two "H" manager. The results of artificially limiting activities will be a decrease in competition, tending to lower the standards of the positions.

In another Mr. Moore has shown that in athletics there is no need for further prohibitions. Sufficient checks already are at hand in the Athletic Committee and the Student Council. No undergraduate Lysander will arise. The "New Haven Plan" finds no application here.