TICKET PSYCHOLOGY

At present the question of Yale Game tickets seems remote and unimportant; but next November will bring it back in all its force, and now, if ever, is the time to criticize the Ticket Committee's proposals. The minor changes, such as a reduction in the "privileged list," are more or less satisfactory. The larger question of numbers and method of allotment remains to be considered. The details of the new plan are stated elsewhere; it is sufficient to say that the general order of priority--College undergraduates, College graduates, graduate school students, graduate school graduates--is no doubt eminently fair. But no material change has been made, (except in the case of the Graduate Schools) in the number of seats which may be applied for. It is true that there will be a greater incentive to apply for only one, since it will be a fairly good seat instead of a bad one. But that inducement is not likely to bring a great reduction in two-seat applications, and with increasing numbers of applicants yearly, there will soon be as many disappointed as ever.

It is true, as the report states, that "no plan of distribution can satisfactorily solve the seating problem", since there simply are not enough tickets to go round. The Committee's task, then, is more psychological than mathematical; the best it can do is to convince everyone that he is getting a "square deal." In past years the chief complaint has come down from those who were allowed to believe that they would get two or more tickets, and found at the last minute that they were left with only one. The new plan does not eliminate that fault. Those who apply for two are as likely to be disappointed as before; and though there will be no unfairness, there is bound to be dissatisfaction when they are cut down.

A simple device would help to minimize that disappointment. It was proposed emphatically last fall, yet the Committee has apparently taken no notice of it. Every man should be given the privilege of filing two applications: one for the maximum probable number of tickets, the other for the minimum. Then, when the total demand is known, it will not be difficult to divide the applications so that every man's minimum, at least, is filled, and as many of the maximum as possible, chosen not by lot but in the suggested order of priority. In this way each applicant will understand exactly what his prospects are; and by applying for two seats in group III, he will not be losing his chances of one seat in group I, in case the demand is so great that he fails to get his two. Furthermore, it is probable that many graduates would prefer either two or none, and the advance knowledge of that fact would save much waste.

As a natural supplement is a suggestion which should be adopted in any case. If the allotment is made at least two weeks earlier than in the past, a large part of the uncertainty and inconvenience will be avoided.