Why This Paper Isn't Free: A Tale

One upon a time. Harvard Summer School students were given a twice weekly newspaper called Harvard Summer News- free.

That once-upon-a-time ran out last summer, the Summer News- funded by the Summer School- has disappeared forever, and if you want to find out about Harvard's brilliant range of intellectual foreplay, culture, tragedy, male chauvinism, and dope, you'll have to pay for it.

To tell the sad story another way:

For the last several years, the Summer School has paid the CRIMSON a fixed fee- $6000 last year- to pay for subscriptions for Summer School students and staff. The CRIMSON published a twice-weekly paper for the Summer School and called it Harvard Summer News.

The CRIMSON liked the arrangement for several reasons. One, the newspaper owns its own print shop and has several full-time employees who are paid throughout the summer. Publishing a summer newspaper helps us cut our losses caused by our fixed overhead.

Two, we liked being around for the summer. It helps us keep abreast of news that develops over the summer.

Competition

All was well. Then, this spring, a new Harvard weekly, the Independent, went to Thomas E. Crooks, director of the Summer School, and told him they, would like to publish a summer paper funded by the University.

The CRIMSON will publish throughout the Summer School on Tuesday and Friday afternoon. But this edition came out on Monday morning, and because of the holiday next weekend our next issue will be Thursday, July 2.

The CRIMSON invites Summer School students and Harvard-Radcliffe undergraduates interested in working on the paper to come to 14 Plympton St at 7: 30 p. m. Tuesday. Refreshments.

Crooks proposed a system of bids which would have had the effect, the CRIMSON felt, of encouraging out throat competition among undergraduate organizations. The Independent, funded by wealthy alumni, had lost money throughout its first year of life, and

we were afraid they would be willing to lose more if they could shut us out of the Summer School.

Crooks gave the CRIMSON a $500 advantage in the bidding because of our past good performance. The Independent viewed that as an unfair slap at them, while the CRIMSON suspected that another paper was being considered at all only because of the Crimson's frequent opposition to University policy.

Crooks finally settled the matter to no one's satisfaction by canceling the Summer News altogether.

The CRIMSON decided to publish anyway, and although we expect to lose a lot of money this summer we expect to have some fun, too.

Propaganda

The CRIMSON is an official undergraduate organization, but is completely independent of the University Administration and alumni. If we want to spend money, we have to make it, but nobody can tell us how to spend it.

The CRIMSON's assets- including the offices at 14 Plympton Street- are owned by a committee of former CRIMSON editors. The newspaper is a non-profit organization. Students who work on the paper during the winter receive no pay, but our six-man summer staff gets enough to live on.

Harvard-Radcliffe undergraduates can join a summer comp for membership on the CRIMSON. Summer School students from other colleges are invited to write and take photos for the CRIMSON. Everybody interested should come to a meeting at the CRIMSON at 7:30 p. m. Tuesday.

And we hope everybody around Harvard Square this summer will tip us off to news, let us know what we should be printing that we aren't and invite us to lots of parties.