Class of 1938 Fourth-Year Group to Make Yard and Union Center of Social Activities, Intellectual Life

Coming in as a beneficiary of the constructive work its predecessors did in establishing new first-year traditions, the Class of 1938 in the fourth Freshman class to live in the historic Yard and to have the Union all to itself. This class will follow the Classes of 1935, 1936 and 1937 who were the first to make the transition from the dormitories along the Charles. 1935 will complete the first college generation to live in the Yard as Freshman.

Without exaggeration it can be said that the Union is the social center of first-year life. Under one roof in its large dining hall, in its common rooms, its libraries, and its game rooms, there will take place as the year gets under way, the gradual integration of hundreds of new Harvard men from many parts of the world with varied back-grounds and interests into another class unit. This is because it is in the Union rather than in the classrooms or on the athletic field that the men of 1938, those living at home as well as those who live in the Yard, will mingle in greatest numbers, meeting not only each other, but establishing valuable and interesting contact with their deans, professors and instructors acting as associates the class, advisors and proctors. Practically every influence of the University is to be found within the traditional atmosphere of the building.

The Union was built in 1901 with funds donated by Major Henry Lee Higginson of Boston, who also gave Soldiers Field to the University and founded the Boston Symphony. It was Major Higginson's purpose to present to the University a building where "the freest and offullest intercourse between the students" would be promoted. The Freshman Union Committee of the Class of 1936 had this idea in mind when it took as its objective "the development of the social educational and cultural potentialities of the Union." While this ambitious program fell short of complete realization, the Union and its friendly atmosphere assumed an important position in the affections of the Class of 1935. This spirit was taken up by the Classes of 1936, 1937 and carried to a point nearer to the ideal of the donor.

To appreciate the many facilities the Union offers for a multitude of activities and concomitant social contact which is so important in first year college life if interpreted in the broadest sense, one has only to make a brief tour of the building. In past years in the Small Dining Room as distinguished from the Large Dining Room and the Rotunda, classes have had their French, German and Latin tables where men could converse during meals in the particular language in which they were interested. The Large Dining Room was the scene of last year's Freshman entertainment, Freshman Smoker and Jubilee. Piano recitals and motion picture shows were given in the downstairs living room. In the upstairs living room, at the far end of the hall, a series of informal talks by prominent professors on topics of current interest sponsored by last year's Union Committee. It was in this room that Harvard's famous "Copey" gave his Christmas reading exclusively for the first-year men. The Debating Council also used this room for its meetings and forums.

Every first-year man will find it worth his time to glance into the Union Library, which Professor Copeland has called "the finest gentlemen's library in America." This library is at the right at the head of the stairs on the second floor. It must be distinguished from the History 1 and Government 1 reading room at the left. The latter is a specialized course library, while the Union Library proper contains a fine collection of books for general reading. It is interesting to browse among the stalls and examine the old and new volumes, all of wide intellectual appeal.

Someone might well ask the question, "What voice have the Freshmen in the affairs of the Union, which of course vitally concern them?" The answer is that the Class is represented by the Freshman Union Committee, composed of first year men selected on the basis of dormitory representation by the deans and proctors. It is to cooperate with the Graduate Secretary of the Union in managing all the varied activities. The names of the man chosen for the 1933 Union Committee will be announced in the CRIMSON at an early date, and complaints and suggestions may be made to one's dormitory committeeman or else to the Secretary of the Union, whose office hours are always posted.

The previous classes made the most of the many opportunities afforded by the Union for broadening social and intellectual pursuits. It is only natural that their successor in the Yard and the Union, the Class of 1966, will wish to be the same, having the same end of class of 1908, will wish to do the same, having the same end of class unification through social contact in view, even though employing means to that and more in conformity with its class individuality.

Kendrick N. Marshall '21, instructor in Government, is the newly appointed Graduate Secretary of the Union