Mrs. Bunting Must Listen

For the first time in recent memory, Mrs. Bunting has had her knuckles rapped. As Mrs. Bunting helplessly watched the proceedings in Cabot Hall's packed living-room, the Radcliffe Government Association voted 27 to 16 not to endorse the Radcliffe Policy Committee she had set up this summer.

It is, hard to feel that Mrs. Bunting did not deserve it. Her motives for forming the RPC were probably the best: she is aware of the communications gap between the administration and the students and realizes that something must be done if drastic measures such as last spring's hunger strike are to be prevented.

So, in the summer Mrs. Bunting found what she thought would be one solution. She formed the Radcliffe Policy Committee. She did not consult students. She did not consult the Ad Hoc Committee set up after he hunger strike to find ways of bringing students and administration in closer touch with each other.

Mrs. Bunting's explanation is that, in this matter, "I didn't want to wait." But the net result of her haste was to make students feel that they were deliberately bypassed to prevent them from expressing any ideas for real change in the existing Radcliffe power structure.

At the very last, it showed that despite the hunger strike, Mrs. Bunting has not yet understood that the students will not be satisfied with any high-handed solutions to their problems. They want a voice and they want to be listened to.

They spoke up at the RGA meeting. This meeting was packed with girls sympathetic to the resolution "not to endorse RPC." They even arranged to have proxies there to vote for RGA representatives unable to attend. There was little debate at the meeting; and there was never any doubt that the resolution would pass. A more moderate resolution, "to withhold endorsement," never had a chance.

And it would be wrong for Mrs. Bunting to assume that the attitude displayed at the RGA meeting does not have broad popular support at the 'Cliffe. Approximately 300 girls have already signed a letter to Mrs. Bunting indicating that they can not support RPC.

It is unfortunate that the more moderate resolution was not given greater consideration. By "withholding" rather than denying endorsement, it--in effect--would have extended an invitation to the administration for further discussion of the pros and cons of such a committee. But it is hard to blame those who felt that an invitation would not produce results. Mrs. Bunting claims that RPC is only one answer and that she will welcome any others. The Ad Hoc Committee, however, which was set up to look into just this problem, is now no longer considered an official committee. The five administration representatives appointed to the committee last spring are either no longer in Cambridge or no longer interested.

Mrs. Bunting has refused to appoint any new members, because she feels it would be "an imposition on their time." She argues that the Committee was asked to make its recommendations to the June Council meeting, and that it was to disband at that time. The Committee did report on its first charge--the housing problem. It put off the second until the fall when it would have more time to do a more extensive study. Members wanted, for instance, to look into some of the answers that had been tried at other colleges, such as the "Antioch Plan," where students have a vote on policy decisions.

The committee can only be recommended for its dispassionate thoroughness. It is hard to understand why Mrs. Bunting is sticking so closely to the letter of the original request, rather than to its spirit. The Committee can be nothing but a help in working for more communication between students and administration. Mrs. Bunting should realize this. She should formally recognize the committee, and reappoint administration representatives. By not doing so she is wasting an opportunity to get in touch with students, and is thus showing once again that she does not take student opinion seriously, This kind of attitude can only lead to more confrontations along the lines of last Thursday's RGA meeting, confrontations which can only cause her public embarrassment.