Burden of Proof

For the Saltonstall Alumni Committee to decide upon a Student Activities Center as Harvard's war memorial, College opinion must first find authentic crystal-clear expression. This week's Student Council survey of organizational rank-and-file is a step in the right direction: it presents an opportunity for the groups to break through a special apathy of their own and speak out. Not only have they been slow in response to date; over half have in addition not responded whatsoever to the Council's invitation for cooperative action.

What the Council has done is to set up in effect a committee of undergraduate sponsors for a Student Activities Center, theoretically encompassing representatives of all the thirty-eight groups which would receive new leases on life through an SAC. The only drawback has been in the absence of all but a half-dozen of the "interested" parties. Notwithstanding this gap in representation, the committee's first meeting determined to send each organization a detailed questionnaire requesting data on current and pre-war membership, present meeting facilities, and what it would need in a new Student Activities Center. Most important, one query asked the actual membership vote supporting SAC. Questionnaires must be back in the Council's hands by Wednesday. If all organizations return them punctually with thorough and accurate information, the Council will possess the facts to prepare an authoritative report for submission to the Associated Harvard Clubs unit when it meets Commencement-time or early fall.

Without such clear and unmistakable documentary evidence to back up its stand, the Council will find tough sparring against the sundry proposals for hospitals and marble monuments which have hardly been cast aside by those who will make the final decision and call up the crucial funds. Negative arguments--that any necessary hospitals are ordinary University responsibility and that mausoleums in which one removes his hat cannot compare to a living memorial--serve a limited purpose only. The case can be won with advancement of the positive thesis that the College student body unequivocally wants a Student Activities Center and that the College itself needs one for a cohesive extracurricular program. Primary impetus for substantiating this thesis must come at once from the organizations themselves. Furthermore, undergraduates whose fathers take part in Harvard Club activities back home could help immeasurably by letting Dad know how they feel: pressure from the grass roots is tried-and-true for prodding solons into action.