THE CROWN JEWELS

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Attempting to catch a glimpse of one of Widener's thousands of library books these days without the proper Harvard "credentials" is like tying to gain access to the Crown Jewels.

For the last few years, the library has given me the "token" privilege as a member of "the public" to look at books while on the premises. This privilege, I was recently informed, is a "parasitic" one, in view of the high fees paid by students, professors and researchers for similar privileges; and from now on special notes must be given as proof that the books we seek cannot be found elsewhere. We members of "the public" must sign a special sheet to ensure that we don't abuse the "privilege."

For directing the question of private privilege to the proper source we must muster with all our forces as identity with the daily harsh realities which exist for us, plebians in Cambridge, who are not part of privileged academia: high rents due to University students who have the dollars to pay for dwellings inaccessible to ordinary folks; real estate deals that exclude low-income Cambridge dwellers desperately needing such housing; blossoming of cultural activities within the University community, with nothing of any cultural content for or in behalf of the Cambridge community; working for Harvard as "inferior" types, at minimum wages.

Reality, as the best reinforcer of definitions, will help us keep in mind just who it is that is "parasitic." Bonnie Mass