WIDENER FUGUE

To the varied collection of slings and arrows which Widener, or rather those who direct its strange and devious policies, has drawn to itself must be added one more concerning the examination books on file. The term "on file" is used more in the interests of courtesy than accuracy, for it's a rare student who can go into the reading room those days and find there the particular examination papers he has set his heart on. Somebody else has invariably pre-empted the 1933 models first, absconding with them in unholy glee and with the determination to make the most of his luck; with the result that the student in question must content himself with a volume of archaic exams more in keeping with the curiosities in the treasure room than the exam files.

The most obvious remedy for this lamentable situation is to provide more books containing only elementary and popular course exams like History 1, Economics A and Physics C for which the demand is greatest. The bound books that now contain everything in a given department from, say, the lower reaches of Slavic 4 to the higher reaches of Indic Philology would then no longer exist quite so much for the benefit of one student to the exclusion of all the potential intermediate beneficiaries. However, the most effective method of accomplishing this result in its entirely would be to stock the library with surplus examination papers, providing appropriate pigeon holes or boxes for them. True, the unbound papers would not wear so well as the present books, but this fact would automatically assure that obsolescence and retirement would go hand in hand, while the files would be steadily replenished by the inexorable rhythm of examinations. Thus students and university alike would benefit and the latter would reclaim one more pound of monetary flesh from Widener by the savings effected by relegating the bound books to oblivion.