MEATLESS DAYS

To the Editors of The Crimson:

As an undergraduate, I am greatly distressed by CHUL's decision to hold two meatless days a week beginning February 15. It is not so much that I dislike the idea of meatless days (though I would prefer not to have them), but rather the fact that no referendum on the question will be held until the end of spring break. I believe that in an issue as important to undergraduate life as this, the normal channels of CHUL decision making must be bypassed. It is not right that a body as small as CHUL, with only 13 student members, should be allowed to dictate to the eating habits of 7,000 undergraduates.

I urge the committee to reconsider the manner in which these meatless days are to be instituted. Judging from the response to the Thanksgiving-time fast, which was hardly unanimous, I can not be convinced that meatless days will be so anxiously awaited. During that fast, many persons who had foregone Harvard food appeared shortly afterward in Elsie's and other Square restaurants; they were not really concerned enough about the world food problem to even forego one meal. I believe that at the very most one quarter of the school actually fasted.

The present proposal for meatless days places a referendum on the issue after spring break, but why wait till then? Could not a referendum be held during the of February 3, before meatless days are instituted? What harm could come of a referendum held before the policy is effected? Holding a referendum after the fact is tantamount to a dictatorship for the months prior to that vote. Since CHUL obviously agrees that the matter merits, some sort of referendum, there can be no other explanation for its action than that it hopes undergraduates will be hulled into a state of complacency during the experimental period; when the vote finally does come, CHUL believes, resistance will have turned to apathy, and the proposition will undoubtedly pass. Has it considered, however, the possibility of the measure's defeat? If a majority of undergraduates believe they do prefer days with meat, CHUL will have robbed them of approximately two weeks worth of meat: and for no apparent reason.

CHUL's proposed action is similar to that in which our current-President, Mr. Ford, gained office: a nomination was proposed, voted on by Congress, and in a few months we had a President in office who had never been submitted to the popular vote. Many political commentator's at the time noted how unfair it was that the American people would have to wait 2 1/2 years before they could actually pass judgment on Mr. Ford. They pointed out that if he were to win the election in 1976, it would undoubtedly be due to the fact that people had grown accustomed to him as President; were he never imposed upon the people in the first place, he would never have stood a chance of election. I maintain the same is true of meatless days.

In closing, I would just like to point out that we at Harvard pay $500 a semester on food bills alone. This is higher than most universities pay. Should meatless days be instituted, I would urge that the savings accruing from that action be passed back to the students in the form of a credit on next year's tuition for cash, in the case of graduating students). With this rebate, those of us who really do want to eat meat will be able to go elsewhere on meatless days without having to incur outrageously high food bills. Cariton M. Smith '78