WANTED: ACCURACY

Our attention has been brought to an article on the Boston Police Strike by one Arthur Warner, which appeared in "The Nation" during the recent Christmas recess. Says Mr. Warner: "I found that partisanship and rancor had permeated almost every circle, even to Harvard University, the president of which had offered one thousand students (who fortunately never appeared) to take the places of absent police, while one of the lecturers had addressed a gathering of policemen's wives so sympathetically that a number of graduates were demanding, under pain of not contributing to the endowment fund, that his mouth be stopped."

We feel that we cannot let this article pass unchallenged. At a time so critical to the success of the Endowment Fund it is doubly unfortunate that such statements which reflect unfairly upon the University should appear in a publication owned and edited by a Harvard man, Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard '93. It is too bad that Mr. Villard did not verify the truth of his contributor's article before publishing it.

In the first place, President Lowell did not offer "one thousand students to take the place of absent police." His summons were: "All students who can do so prepare themselves for such service as the Governor may call upon them to render," and "these volunteers are reporting simply as citizens and not as strike-breakers." Approximately two hundred and fifty undergraduates of the Summer School answered his call. Furthermore, no Harvard lecturer addressed a gathing of policemen's wives. And we call on Mr. Villard to present facts which would support the statement that "a number of graduates were demanding, under pain of not contributing to the endowment fund" that the mouth of the Harvard lecturer be stopped. Does the writer imagine that our graduates are bereft of loyalty to their Alma Mater? Does he believe that more differences of opinion would stand in the way of their contributing to the College fund? It is astounding, to say the least, that Mr. Villard should allow such hearsay to be published as fact in his magazine.