NSA On Trial

The National Student Association is beginning the new academic season with a heavy schedule of projects that were hatched or discussed at its convention in Urbana, Illinois this summer. The Harvard chapter, which belongs to the Boston area of the New England Region of the NSA, is supposed to perform a dual function. Primarily it is part of the NSA's information exchange set-up, which links the Harvard Student Council with the student governments of all other member institutions. The secondary but much more publicized function is the working out of various projects which are supposed to benefit students both at Harvard and at other colleges.

On the matter of projects the Harvard chapter has a mixed record. As a result of efficient work by a handful of NSA officials in Cambridge, over 200 DP students entered American colleges this fall, seven of them at Harvard.

Also, the International Tours sponsored by the national command and sparked from Cambridge were a conspicuous success. Still to be proved, however, in terms of its value to students, is the purchase card discount system which got off to a slow start last spring.

Although these projects represent a promising beginning, students are justified in asking if such activities are worth an expenditure of $1300, the amount which last year's Student Council appropriated for the NSA.

The representatives of the Harvard chapter have assured the Council that last year's experimentation has developed the machinery which will result in an increased volume of useful projects for the year 1949-50.

As examples of what the college may expect, they cite such plans as a more efficient faculty rating system; reduced transportation rates for student travel; a lodging bureau, which will enable men to quarter their weekend dates at local women's schools; and several other projects which represent substantial savings to undergraduates.

The NSA's future at Harvard is in the hands of the present delegation. Unless they complete this program as planned, they cannot count on endless future student support.