CONTACT

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

We all seem to think that we know precisely what mistakes and sins of omission Washington has made. But while we congratulate ourselves on our unique awareness of State Department affairs, we are sublimely blind to our own more immediate deficiences in the foreign relations field.

Each year about four hundred students from abroad enter Harvard, and their cold reception has left many of them bitter and disillusioned. Last spring a number of undergraduates shook off their Cambridge lethargy and awoke to the tragic lack of contact and understanding between foreign and American students.

A number of groups and some unaffiliated but interested students decided to coordinate their efforts, resulting in the Harvard International Activities Committee program. They have corresponded with foreign students before they arrived, they have visited with them in New York and Boston, had them to their own homes for dinner, and other such barrier-breaking activities. A committee is working every afternoon in PBH from 2 p.m. through 6 p.m.

Unfortunately, more students are needed if the need is to be met. With more help, friendship and knowledge might supplant isolation. Alice Oberg '58

In Cambridge the number to call is extension 2179.--Ed.