ALLEN ANSWERS CRITICS OF UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS

wave of criticism? Its outstanding feature is that it does not center in any one big issue, but in a number of little ones, and is mainly a symptom of general irritation. Harvard men have got the notion,--perhaps it was the foot-ball season which put in into their heads that their University is losing ground, and not knowing the situation fully are a prey to exaggerated fears. They are worrying about all sorts of things that aren't so: the other day a loyal graduate complained to me about the need of changing the policy of a certain department, and was relieved to hear that it had already been changed two years ago. They are prone to make rather imposing mountains out of molehills; to orget that many of the criticisms by which they are disturbed offset each other: and to be upset by all sorts of trivial; personal annoyances. And while the graduates are in this state of mind, at is perhaps natural that the administration in its turn should be sometimes a little irritable, a little touchy and abrupt. It is primarily a case of nerves on both sides. A little diplomatic oil here and there would remove most of the friction.

Harvard has a way of emerging stronger from every storm. It was never as strong as it is today, although the long list of its recent major achievements, ranging all the way from the establishment of the general examination and the tutorial system to the application of a rational plan of budgeting, would not make nearly as lively reading for the uninformed and the half-informed as a news story headed "Grads Rap Harvard for Baker Loss." If the alumni will ony look into the facts before throwing brickbats, if they will only make their proposals logical, good-humored, and constructive the present criticism will be positively helpful rather than harmful. Already, it is bearing fruit in the insistence of the Overseers Committee on English that some sort of week in dramatic composition be continued despite Professor Baker's departure. Harvard makes its biggest gains in an atmosphere of free discussion, and that it is certainly getting now. As a member of one of the governing boards said to me the other day: "These digs from the graduates may not be precisely enjoyable, but they keep us up to the mark. And we mustn't forget this; a university with which all the alumni were perfectly satisfied would be a dead one."