No Ratios

To the Editors of The Crimson:

The proposed constitution of the Harvard-Radcliffe Student Association which undergraduates received in the mail this past week, is just another indication of the ultimate failings of a Harvard education. It is inconceivable to me how these students, many of whom claim to know something about government, justice, and ethics, could come up with an idea as regressive and discriminatory as that in Article One, Section Four.

The notion of equal representation is more than just a catch phrase. In fact, there is no other way of insuring just representation. Even accepting that certain minorities are discriminated against in the workings of this university, who is to decide which ones, and to what degree? According to the constitution presented, a black woman is entitled to three times as much say in the government as a white male, and three-halves that of a Puerto Rican male. Are these ratios supposed to be a quantitative measure of discrimination? Furthermore, religious minorities such as Jews and Catholics, and gay men and women, have been completely excluded from the privileged class of the oppressed. There is certainly just as much and perhaps more evidence of unfair treatment of these groups at Harvard than the ones arbitrarily selected by the authors of this constitution. And what about the handicapped students and other groups whose special interests are often ignored by the majority? Is it just those minorities big enough to "count" that get this special status of double or triple representation, adding yet another form of oppression to those others?

At the beginning of the letter sent to undergraduates, the authors say that even though you disagree strongly with some part of the document, it is best to look at it as a whole. Yet in this constitution, the most fundamental principle has been abused. I cannot support this kind of oppressive document either in terms of practicality or principle, and I think any clear-headed individual regardless of race or origin must feel the same way. I would rather see no student government at all than a government which is an embarassment to common intelligence and morality. Andy Berger '78