Supporting Mr. Haskell

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

Mr. Haskell is to be commended for his attack on the Rank List. The "liberal attitude towards the function of a college" is not only well-worth preserving, even if Harvard stands almost alone among universities in this respect, but also merits being advanced. And, while our method of concentration and distribution does certainly knock off a shackle or two of Paternalism from the hands of the undergraduate, he is at the same time having his feet bound by the trammels of a Dean's List, a Rank List, or a Senior advisor.

These institutions, along with the religious guardianship of the Phillips Brooks House, are supported by the plea of immaturity. It is granted that the prep. school puppy comes into the Freshman class, used to that guiding hand which has tucked him in and put out the light at nine-thirty, submissive to that severe eye which has seen to it that he is present at daily chapel attentive to that pious voice which has admonished him against the house of Potiphar and all its inmates. But, where, Oh, where, Venerable Sir, are we, the Freshman Puppies, to learn the ways of that wicked world yonder which gapes with dripping jaws before us? Where, if not in college?

College is the preparation for the Battle of Life. We have heard the sentiment more than once. We subscribe to its validity, more or less. Therefore, does it not seem more profitable that we chew on the soap and rubbers of collegiate liberalism rather than that we be thrust, ignorant and untutored, into an unpaternal world of which we know nothing? Under a liberal policy in college, we may learn not to snap at old dogs' ears when we go forth into the world. And there, certainly, lies the value of a liberal tradition. F. W. GERHART '25. December 6, 1921.