FRENCH POLITICS

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The events which led to a split in the French Club present a problem for every student who belongs to an undergraduate organization: that of faculty interference in student activities. A faculty arbitrator is necessary for disputes within and between such organizations. But the Department of Romance Languages overstepped the rights of faculty last Wednesday night.

The issue that caused faculty intervention was who should have the right to vote in the club's elections. Should it be anyone who came along or card-holding members of the club? If the latter, who should be considered a card-holding member? The Department of decided that anyone who came to the meeting could vote. This decision was protested by the recognized heads of the club, its President, Jean-Claude Hamel '53, and Vice-President Milan C. Kerno '54. Mean-while, it had been suggested by Dr. Simches, faculty adviser, that elections would be held in four weeks or this coming Wednesday March 11. Last Week, the Department announced in the CRIMSON that elections would be held on the 4th, at what was to have been a regular meeting, with a regularly scheduled program. This was the first information that Mr. Hamel and Mr. Kerno received that the Department had decided to hold the elections as week ahead of schedule.

At the meeting, Mr. Hamel was presented with a letter from the head of the Department, saying that the club had been disbanded, and that the was no longer President. A new club was to be formed, and it was later-declared that the Department would take over its direction. Mr. Hamel's attempts to bring the meeting to order so that discussion of the issues could take place were frustrated, largely by the faculty representative at the meeting. Thereupon Mr. Hamel, Mr. Kerno, and eighteen others, left the meeting.

Obscure Reasons

The reasons for the faculty's interference in the French Club's activities are obscure. According to Dr. Simches himself, the Department's action was in no way intended to criticize Mr. Hamel's presidency. Dr. Simches said that the club has "reached an impasse", so that the faculty itself had had to step in. But what was this impasse, that it could not be resolved by a discussion beween those concerned. The action was, apparently, arbitrary, Mr. Hamel himself is still ignorant of the faculty's reasons.

But even these reasons, should they come to light, would be irrelevant to the principle involved: what is the Department's right to interfere in the French Club. It certainly performs no function that benefits the club. Speakers are not provided by the Department, nor are finances. The meeting place is provided, but it is not essential to the club; meetings could be held in the room of any member. But the club is beneficial to the Department in that it interests students in the subject. Only the Department benefits from the association. Frederick Mushenheim '53