Drink And Be Merry, Earlier

One night each year, in early March, the freshmen drink their beer in Memorial Hall, instead of the less ornate sports off Massachusetts Avenue. The freshmen call this occasion their Smoker, and they say that it is a Good Thing, because it creates the Brotherhood that comes with laughing at the same jokes, leering at the same dancers, and drawing beer from the same kegs. But by beginning of March, most freshmen have chosen their friends, and even the camaraderie of such diversions is unlikely to push back the horizons of friendship.

To serve as a fraternal convention the Smoker must come in the opening months of the school year, certainly no later than the end of October. This early date would not really affect the efficiency of the Smoker Committee elections, as some champions of the March date argue. Candidates from schools with large delegations at the College would command only a tiny minority of friends in comparison to the size of the class. Ballyhoo would continue to be the decisive factor, and a vote for a flamboyant stranger in December is no better considered than one cast in October.

Nor would the quality of beer and entertainment suffer because of the earlier date. The first is traditionally flat but plentiful, and the second always a variation upon the theme of girls and Tom Lehrer. Arrangements for both are not difficult. And if the Student Council's Freshman Affairs Committee--elected each May--were to offer guidance to this aspect of Freshman Affairs, an early smoker could be just as merry and a good deal more useful.