He Stoops to Conquer

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters but under special conditions, at the request of the writer, names will be with held.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

The rumor which has reached the Yard to the effect that the Class of 1930 may, possibly, see fit to abolish the traditional Junior Dance, has aroused the approbation of at least one of the inhabitants of that precinct. For the Junior Dance, or Prom--as you choose to look at it--has been slowly dying for the last ten years; it is time to bury the corpse.

Perhaps the chief objection which has been raised against the Dance, from certain quarters at least, is in regard to social considerations. It is said that the constituency of the Junior Prom is not representative of the Harvard undergraduate body. I beg to take issue with this statement. Out of necessity I attended the Dance last year, and am convinced that the proportion of various social groups at the function is in general the same as that between the same groups in the greater body of the College. Unfortunately, however, with the reduced numbers, the total of the undergraduates of that class which one would like to look upon as representative of the University is negligible.

In a word, then, the general atmosphere is such that a relatively large number of those who have not yet been leveled socially by the proposed benefits of the new House plan, is tending more and more to regret its invitations to the Junior Dance. Add this to the financial embarrassment with which all Dance Committees are faced, and the further fact that social fare palatable to the most diverse tastes is rather abundant, and the reason for attempting to sustain the breath of life in a superannuated whiff from the gay nineties seems to be ill founded. (Name withheld by request.)