The Council's Function

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

I should like to take issue with your editorial of Saturday, March 4 on the action of the Harvard Student Council as regards House Bill 646 of the General court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

When that Bill goes up before the legislature, the more backing it has, the better its chances of becoming a law, and although its passage or rejection may be a matter of indifference to Harvard, such is not the case with other schools.

Radcliffe, Boston University, Boston College, and a host of colleges and universities in Massachusetts have commute students for whom a reduction in transportation costs would mean a large saving. The Northern New England Region of the NSA, of which Harvard is a member, approve this bill although many schools who voted for it would not be affected.

I should like to thank the Harvard Student Council for "overstepping its original function" and adding its support to a bill which would benefit a large number of students in Massachusetts.

If, as your article suggests, the Harvard Student Council has strayed from its espoused purpose, then possibly it should cease its activity in other field snot directly related to advising the administration on student policy such as the Council's NSA activities, its support of PBH, etc. Perhaps it should also stop advising the administration if it does not represent the student body's views as you imply.

To me, the Council's actin shows an increasing awareness on the part of the students to the wider community in which they dwell, it shows a consideration on the fact that there are other college besides Harvard and that Harvard can work with other schools on problems of general concern.

It is unfortunate that this attitude does not extend to Harvard's newspaper. Jean McCormick '51