KEEP LAMONT OPEN

To the Editors of the Crimson:

After experiencing nearly two semesters of shortened library hours at Lamont, we find it very discouraging that such budgetary priorities still exist to the disadvantage of probably the great majority of Harvard undergraduates. It seems obvious that, after the teaching facility, the college's second priority should be the library, especially since it is a major function of Lamont to provide reserved reading materials for almost all undergraduate courses. It seems absurd that this center of our academic life should suffer at the hands of such things as free distribution of toilet paper to freshmen, not to mention other substantial but less compelling drains on the Corporation's budget. Closing the reserve book desk at 10:00 P.M. not only inconveniences those students returning from late tutorials and seminars, but limits access to much reserve material as early in the evening as 8:00 P.M., the present over-night check-out time.

Certainly those who dictate Harvard's budget policy have their reasons for ordering priorities thusly. However, we cannot understand how such an essential aspect of our academic life can be so easily overlooked and subordinated to significantly less compelling needs of the community.

We don't suspect that those decision-makers will take action upon this singular ples. What we hope for is a show of concern on the part of the greater academic community who must certainly sympathize with our reaction to this blatant inconvenience. Jeffrey D. Cohan '74   Larry P. Rothman '74