THE SECOND DAY

Yesterday in this column the CRIMSON asked that the men behind the sex questionnaire come forth from their anonymity and announce their intentions and authority. This has been done, and it is only reasonable to say that the response is perfectly satisfactory. The authorities are well known and responsible; the statistics are to be copyrighted and will not, presumably, be available to the general press. All that one could wish is that these things had been made apparent from the beginning, and that the sponsors of the investigation had not felt that secrecy was so necessary to their cause.

The Dean's office has acted sensibly and tolerantly. For the benefit of the press it has pronounced the affair "unauthorized" and has expressed a kind of mild indignation by taking a meaningless step "to prevent its further dissemination." For the benefit of the Critic, it has ordered, semi-officially, that the statistics gathered must not be fed to the general public. That is all, but that is intelligent and enough. University Hall is covered.

A few may infer, judging from the response of Harvard's psychological department, that the investigation is, essentially of small scientific worth. That would be a specious inference. The refusal of the department to have anything to do with the affair is the explicable refusal of professionals who do not care to risk their reputations on an issue which they did not themselves open and define. The obiter dictum that the questionnaire is incompetent and unscientific may, from their point of view, be necessary in explanation; but it certainly leaves them open to attack on the grounds either that they did not recognize the value of some such inquiry, or that if they did recognize that value they were not able to forestall, in one way or another, the present set of questions and substitute something perhaps more competent and scientific of their own.