Three Cheers

The announcement that the Lampoon will take on Radcliffe girls is heartening to those who have for two years maintained both the inevitability and the desirability of a broader definition of joint education. The Student Council, the dramatic groups, the Glee Club, and the CRIMSON have practiced their preachings along these lines, and both colleges have benefited from it. The particularly encouraging thing about last night's announcement is the fact that, until then, the Lampoon was one orgaizaion which laughed the loudest at the whole thing.

Just why the 'Poon editors feel it necessary to have girls on the staff is unclear--perhaps they think it will improve the humor of the magazine, which, in recent months, has slipped to a position somewhat short of overpowering. Perhaps the dutch tiles with which the walls of their sanctum are lined need a spring cleaning; perhaps they look forward to a gayer decor, with chintz curtains in every leaded window.

But these conjectures are, it must be admitted, colored by the traditional skepticism which has grown up among CRIMSON boards concerning the not always straightfaced deeds of the 'Poon. Let us hope that the more obvious jibes which this move could engender will not be thrown at the Lampoon--for it has shown that whatever reverence for antiquity antiquity in humor, it has the ability to adapt to at in humor, it has the ability to adapt to at least the most obvious trends of the community.

Here is a step which should be a shot in the arm to those individuals and groups at Harvard which have been pushing joint education in the larger sense. Perhaps this move, coming from what has been the area of deepest reaction to the new educational setup, will serve to convince the scoffers that students in the College think this thing is here to stay.

Apparently the voices of the coeducators have not been crying in vain these two years. If the other groups in the College which are still solely male follow this trend, joint education can be made much more than the academic shell which it is now.