New Deal

The design of Harvard Stadium, which has practically half of its seating capacity in the deep bowls behind the end zones, is one undeniable reason why the H.A.A.'s task of alloting seats is such a thankless one. But the confusion, the disappointment, the hard feelings, that accompanied distribution of seats for last fall's football games stemmed in part from archaic methods and inefficiency within the H.A.A. itself. Investigations conducted by the Student Council and the Crimson disclosed that students were annoyed by the reselling of turned-in tickets in the cheering section to non-University purchasers, and by lack of early notification of a possible sell-out, not to mention the biggest gripe of all--seats in the end zone for the Holy Cross and Yale games.

William J. Bingham announced last Monday that a new policy of application and allocation which should remove many of the causes for complaint will be inaugurated next fall. Under the new system, similar to that successfully used by several other colleges, students will purchase application blanks rather than tickets, and they will have a better opportunity to make use of turn-ins. The new plan will be more flexible than the old, and will guarantee a higher percentage of satisfied customers. But it will not work by itself.

One of the H.A.A.'s biggest handicaps last fall was an insufficient number of trained personnel to handle the rush business that preceded a big game. And no announcement has been made of a contemplated increase in the office staff. Before each game the H.A.A, will have to exchange the application slip of each student for a ticket, plus handling turn-ins and requests for extra seats. It is easy to imagine that it will be doing a land office business. Unless there is a large staff on hand, the Quincy Street Emporium may be faced with the same un-ending lines that blessed last year's rat race. Much of the queueing-up might be avoided by using the mails to consummate the application-ticket exchange. Perhaps the H.A.A. intends to use such a procedure, but its announcement does not carry that implication.

Although some more experimentation may be required before the H.A.A. hits upon the best possible solution, the new plan is certainly an improvement. One of its best features is the substitution of a class for a House basis of allotment. In a general way the prospective system parallels suggestions made by last year's investigators; and if there are still complaints (as there will be), their burden cannot be placed entirely upon the internal organization of the H.A.A.