Merry-Go-Rules

In an immense outburst of energy and common sense, the Student Council took up the latest rules for undergraduate organizations at its Monday night meeting and made them almost perfect. It even improved upon the good work of its committee on rules, which had thoroughly reworked the regulations that emanated from the Faculty earlier this term.

As a result of the council's work, the rules now provide:

1. That members of organizations may be students in Harvard University or Radcliffe College. The Faculty rules omitted "or Radcliffe College."

2. That organizations which supply the required membership lists to the Dean's Office will not have those lists filed unless they authorize it. This will protect members of certain political clubs from having their affiliations scrutinized by investigators from outside the College.

3. That new organizations need not present evidence of financial solvency, but must merely present a financial prospectus to the Dean's Office.

4. That admission fees may be charged whenever they do not endanger the tax-exempt status of the University.

5. That groups planning out-of-town functions need only notify, not receive permission from, the Dean's Office.

6. That a new publication will not be subjected to any requirements not placed on other types of organizations.

7. That women need not obtain special permission of the Dean's Office to enter the premises of an organization on business matters pertaining to that organization. For social activities, permission is still required.

8. That organizations may under certain conditions obtain permission to use the Yard.

9. That organizations are simply reminded of, and not required to conform to, Massachusetts laws. This leaves the enforcement of state laws solely up to the state.

These are the improvements that the council and its committee have made-all of them in the direction of greater freedom and responsibility for the student. There are still restrictions that the council was apparently too tired to remove. By a quixotic oversight, it made rules on women stricter for those organizations inside the Student Activities Center than for those outside. The council also showed just enought respect for the College's "good name" policy to deny organizations the right to appear on radio and television programs without Dean's Office permission (this issue is actually academic since a Corporation ruling forbids such appearances, even with Dean's Office approval).

If the Faculty and the Deans really have the respect for undergraduate freedom which they so often profess, they will approve the present set of rules with only minor polishing. If they attempt to introduce extraneous and unnecessary restrictions, as they have done' twice before, their good faith in this whole matter will be open to question.