Press On

Creeping paralysis, one of the deadliest diseases of legislative inquiry, has felled many a Harvard committee. The committee on parietal rules that was born in the Student Council chamber Monday night must not be allowed to succumb. Just by staying alive, it can do a valuable service in pointing up the impracticality and inequity of the present entertainment setup.

For a student body with a large percentage of scholarship holders, the price of entertainment is prohibitive. The College provides virtually no facilities for women guests after eight o'clock, and indeed has no room and no funds to construct new facilities if it wanted to.

If the committee tries to follow the obvious path of relaxing parietal rules, it is going to run into stubborn opposition from the deanery, and will probably be urged to seek some more circuitous route winding through nebulous common rooms and snackbars.

The best way for a committee to avoid the dreaded paralysis is to keep moving, and they only direction that offers any room for continuous movement in a straight line is parietal relaxation. The problem of parietal rules has been studied into the round already. There is no need now for a prolonged investigation. What is needed is a quick formulation of a sensible and effective policy.