Mr. Chairman

The University has never offered plush scholarships for debaters, and no one has ever suggested imitating the colleges that tear apart the local train station when welcoming home a successful team. Carried to an extreme, though, in the forensic world, excessive neglect has left the Varsity Debating Council with neither an instructor nor sufficient funds for its activities.

In contrast to most un-assisted, undergraduate organizations, the Debate Council represents the University in numerous contests with other schools. Much like an athletic team, the Council must participate in Ivy League and invitational tournaments. But even more important, the speaking contests now take place before large audiences. On the recent Mid-Western tour, for example, nearly ten thousand people heard the Harvard team.

To finance these trips, the Council now depends on a one hundred and fifty dollar fund awarded every other year at the University's discretion. The only team instruction is the occasional assistance donated by a member of the speech department on his own time. In marked contrast are the yearly thousand dollar budgets and ample coaching staffs of Yale, Princeton, and other Ivy League schools. The Harvard Council, in order to fill all its obligations, has organized a fund-raising alumni committee to support the debating program. Following the Council's initiative the least the University can do is provide a part-time instructor for the team.

There are several good reasons for having such a coach. Besides giving actual instruction, the advisor could take over the difficult administrative task of assigning the debates. A coach could also serve at tournaments, an important duty considering that Harvard may be excluded from next year's national contest unless it can provide a qualified debate instructor as one of the judges.

The present system of administrative help has little logic since the Varsity Council receives only sparse aid from the University while the Freshman debaters get both a coach and more money. The hiring of an instructor for the Varsity Council would clear up these major defects and give the debaters the advantages supplied by other schools.