After Ten Weeks

The failure of the Freshman dance at Lowell House to attract more than one hundred Freshman couples makes it clear that the attempt to bring together the Class of '46 has not gotten anyone very far. The much-heralded Inter-House dinner ended with the Master of Eliot House Addressing an empty room, while the entry beer parties have become nothing more than get-togethers for Juniors and Seniors already established in their own cliques.

The Committee on Freshman Affairs has put a lot of thought and effort into making its program a success. It has probably spent more time working and planning than any other such organization at Harvard, and for this it should be commended. That their program has been unsuccessful shows either that the approach has been wrong, or that integration, once thought of as a cure-all for the entering classes caught in the wave of the accelerated program, is an aim which means nothing to Freshmen.

The fact that the dance was held on a Thursday night can hardly account for the small attendance, though a Friday night affair on any other but the Labor Day weekend would probably have been more profitable. Whether class integration is a valid goal under wartime conditions has not yet been conclusively proved. The way to do so is for the Freshman Committee to put forward a couple of more real efforts. Most likely to succeed would be a dance or smoker held on the night of the football game with the Navy Air Corps, on Saturday, September 26. Insufficient receipts and lack of upperclass direction make an elaborate affair impossible; but an informal evening at the opening of College should do much to start Freshmen off on the right track.

If the first few efforts to cement the Freshmen entering in September turn out well, the Freshman Committee deserves a feather in its cap. If they end in a fiasco, it will be obvious that in trying to maintain the class feeling of the newcomers they have been barking up the wrong tree. Perhaps House activities will prove more successful in making the individual feel a part of wartime Harvard. At any rate, it will be known once and for all whether class unity means as much to the Freshmen as was once thought. This knowledge will be invaluable in dealing with Harvard classes in the years to come.