DE GUSTIBUS . . .

The allure of a "name" band; a week end of frolic with the one girl, enticed from afar by the promise of Jimmy Dorsey or Benny Goodman; the opportunity for a party of such proportions that even "Life" might come--this is the picture often painted of a single, monumental class prom. Now that the House Committees are considering abandonment of the costly but not quite sensational $800 band--abandonment of the attempt partially to satiate the jitterbug enthusiasm of Harvard name-band devotees--and acceptance of the smaller, restricted House dances, the prom has again become an issue.

For the large class affair a case can be drawn up. At present, neither the extreme jitterbug nor the small-dance advocate is pleased by the attempt to compromise on a "three-quarters good" orchestra. Were a single Junior prom, similar to the Jubilee, to be held, the ever-recurring demand for a big name would be satisfied; and at the same time there would no longer be any legitimate protest against the simple, "atmospheric," restricted dance. Jitterbugs would have their big time, the girl from Cleveland or Atlanta could be imported, and Harvard would yearly have a taste of the elite of swingdom.

But there is traditionally at Harvard a prejudice against that which suggests, even remotely, Joe College. Joseph is an unpopular man in an institution as heterogeneous as Harvard; that brand of indifference arising out of the cross-sectional character of the undergraduate body is generally thought to be in conflict with the homogeneous collegiatism essential to a successful class affair. Perhaps more rational is the fear that a single prom of Cecil B. DeMille proportions would appeal only to a limited class of persons, and thus actually would not be a "class" dance--in the usual sense--at all. Miscellaneous objections to the unwieldiness of the affair, the absence of spirit except of the "colossal" sort, the danger of unpleasant notoriety, are heard mainly from those basically opposed to the idea as a whole.

Difference of opinion there must be. But social affairs must be so arranged as to suit all tastes, and if there is a large body of students chafing at the bit, impatient with House dances of the simpler sort, then the demand must at least be considered. How wide the appeal would be, how serious or how ephemeral the challenge to Harvard traditions, how practicable the affair from a mechanical point of view -- these are questions which the dance committees must decide. "De gustibus non disputandum est," and it may well be that an institution long discussed with a sneer can serve a useful and desirable purpose.