THE SPIRIT OF THE STRIKE

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Monday's Dump Truck on the 1969 strike was, I thought, excellently written and, more important, a well-timed reminder. The '69 strike certainly should not be for gotten. But why insist on the contrast between the activism of the late sixties and the apathy and self-centeredness of the present, as in the article "Freshmen Know Little About Strike" in the same issue of The Crimson? Time Magazine, Newsweek, The New York Times do enough of that, with their constant harping on streaking, pre-meds and apathy. True, these things exist, but the picture is not that simple and the image of riots in the Yard versus frisbees in the Yard is too facile. What about support shown for movements centered around issues such as one-to-one admissions, Middle South Utilities's prospective Arkansas power plant, the Shockley-Innis debate? What about the clearly deeply sympathetic feeling for the 1969 strike manifested in The Crimson's supplement? These movements and that feeling are admittedly a very long way from attaining the spirit of that strike, but we cannot let ourselves settle self-indulgently into the image of us that Time Magazine is so eager to promote. Jenny Netzer '76