THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT

In the midst of the last, and in many ways the most admirable of his annual reports to the Overseers, President Lowell has inserted a financial item, which in the mind of the undergraduate will overshadow all the comments on educational trends. That item reveals indirectly that the House Dining Halls made a large profit last year and that a portion of it, --$40,000.,--was used to finance the measure which gave relief jobs to needy undergraduates. The news will come as a distinct surprise to men who have shared two apparently fallacious beliefs which the administration has made no effort to correct: that the House Dining Halls were to be run on as narrow a margin of profit as possible, and that the money which made the relief possible had come from a reserve fund. There will be much resentment, and to a very small extent it will be justified.

The administration, on the other hand, will feel that its moves have been perfectly reasonable, and that students have small ground for complaint. The surplus was large, they will grant, but last year was the first that saw the House Plan in full operation. There was nothing upon which to base estimates, and when the profit is considered in terms of single meals, the margin was remarkably small. Moreover, when the surplus became definitely obvious, reductions in rates were effected which would prevent any more than a nominal profit. They will argue, finally, that the money had been put to a use which few would term unworthy.

There is no question as to the difficulty of the problems which have confronted the administration in this instance. Nor is there doubt that it has met them honestly and with the best interests of the undergraduate in mind. But there is even less doubt that undergraduates will resent the presence of the surplus and its disposition. The situation plainly calls for a restatement of the basic financial relation between college and student.

The Harvard Undergraduate has been led to believe that his financial relation with his college involved something rather more personal than that between a customer who puts money on a counter and the proprietor who offers commodities in exchange; he has been encouraged to regard it as a sort of partnership in which he was the junior member whose financial interests were respected and clearly outlined at every turn. The Administration has adopted the role of Senior Partner and has acted in good faith, not only respecting the undergraduate interest, but keeping it foremost. But in this, as in many another instance, the undergraduate looks not to the fundamental necessity for the measures, but to the manner in which they have been executed. He sees that the reduction in food prices was delayed until a huge profit had accumulated, even though he had felt assured that the dining halls were a non-profit organization; he sees that it was he who supported the relief measure for which the university tacitly received applause. He has not been informed as to the reasons for these steps, and he selects the most apparent for his interpretation.

There are obviously many of the administration's financial measures which would suffer unfortunate misinterpretation in the hands of those not aware of the whole circumstance; as a general rule, undergraduates would have little desire to probe such mysteries. But in concealing from view a matter in which students are intimately concerned and in which it is actually disinterested, the administration can hardly hope to quiet suspicion and ultimate outcries. To the average undergraduate mind, silence is the best proof that his interests have been disregarded.

The above analysis casts, admittedly, an uncomplimentary reflection on the undergraduate's attitude. But the question remains as to whether the University desires his cooperation in its financial measures, or his distrust. If it desires the latter it has only to continue the policy which it has maintained throughout the accumulation and disposal of the dining hall surplus.