HOSPITALITY

In the recent Freshman discussion, the inhospitable reception often given to visiting school and college teams was brought out as the most important cause for hostility to Harvard in certain localities. Part of this difficulty may be due to carelessness on the part of the Athletic Association. The main reason, however, for the impression of unfriendliness which is often received by visitors here is not due to any lack of hospitality, but to the present club customs and rules which prevent the frequent use of their houses for the reception of visitors. At most other colleges, strangers are put up over night or for meals at the best clubs, and obtain a favorable impression of the life at that college. The greeting which the visitor to Harvard receives in the Subway Rotunda, however warm it may be, lacks the conviction of a square meal and a place to sit down.

It is impossible to alter the present situation without a change in Harvard's club system which will be slow in coming, if practicable, at all. We can make the best of the circumstances, however, by using the Union, which is in many ways the most attractive building in Cambridge, to make the stay of visitors to Harvard enjoyable. A good time to try to obliterate previous impressions of in-hospitality will be in the middle of April when the delegates to the Intercollegiate Conference at M. I. T. come to Cambridge.