Short Circuit

The sociologist has a word for bouncing up through administrative hierarchies without regard for proper channels: short-circuiting. Goaded by the obstinate refusal of the Faculty Student Activities Committee to compromise on the membership list rule, the Student Council has voted to short-circuit the Faculty and present its petition directly to President Conant.

Despite the Council's good intentions, and despite the obvious worth of its proposal, the President will undoubtedly refuse to even consider the matter. While it is theoretically possible for him to intervene and overrule the Committee, the result of such a procedure would be "disintegration of the authority structure." The President's position may be "extremely sympathetic to the Council's," but he cannot touch the issue.

The fact that the author of the short-circuit plan wondered "if Conant is aware of the situation" is proof enough that the Council's move is a last-ditch affair; by taking such a position, Council members have risked an anti-climax that may kill the controversy for good. We hope that, better versed in Sociology, they will reverse last Monday's vote and return to the dull but more effective realm of proper channels.