Sharpe Point

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

The following statement which occurs in the CRIMSON account of the change in management at the Stadium Concessions needs some explanation: "The special complaint that was lodged against the present administration of the stands was the lack of attractiveness and efficiency that has characterized the conduct of the concessions under the management of graduate school men."

The supervision of the concessions was turned over by the H.A.A. to the Student Employment Office in the fall of 1929. Most of the students who had worked on the concessions in previous years were retained. At the end of the season the total earnings of the student workers amounted to $2318.50. In 1931 earnings rose to $2938.34. Last fall students received $3352.56 from work on the concessions. When the sharp decline in attendance at football games is taken into consideration, this steady advance in earnings becomes doubly significant. It is hard to understand why an organization which can increase its earnings fifty per cent in spite of a decrease in the number of potential customers should be characterized as lacking in efficiency.

The concessions have been operated as a student enterprise for the benefit of students. To set aside large amounts from each year's earnings so that more elaborate stands could be erected and new equipment bought would have meant depriving needy students of a large share of their potential wages. For that reason expenditures for construction and equipment have been kept at a minimum. Under this plan the stands could hardly be made attractive or expensive equipment purchased. But students earnings have been correspondingly greater.

I do not object to the change in management, but I do consider it unfair to the former student managers to label them as inefficient when the charge does not seem to be substantiated. R. T. Sharpe.