Shuttle Shuffle

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Fait accompli, Harvard style. From the ones who brought you the Cadillac of Kiosks...introducing: The New Shuttle Bus Schedule, which cuts wages of student drivers and maroons students on weekend days. No deans have been publicly identified as perpetrators of that schedule: they did get rather nasty press on those kiosks, remember? This time, CHUL students (most of whom never got to vote or even express an opinion on the new schedule) shoulder the blame. The effect: Divide and Conquer. Student shuttle drivers vs. students on CHUL; female students requiring the greater security of the new nighttime schedule vs. students attending church on Sunday mornings...

A student body so divided will never be able to fight the outrageous tuition increases and coming financial aid cutbacks, or effectively demand a Third World Center, divestiture, more minority and female faculty, a disciplinary system that respects their fundamental rights, a fair housing lottery, alternate meal plans, or even something as piddling as a 24-hour study place. Harvard administrators know this--one must acknowledge their cleverness in making us fight among ourselves so that we are distracted from uniting our efforts, working toward our common goals.

Thus, instead of appropriating funds for the additional nighttime service, administrators essentially forced CHUL's Shuttle Bus Committee to cut dirver's wages. Would those administrators quietly allow an obscure committee that hadn't consulted them to cut their salaries? But money is a strange thing at Harvard. HDNS is bailed out while the Student Assembly and many deserving campus organizations go broke.

Policy decisions in an enlightened university community cannot be paternalistically handed down from above, whether the fatherly hand belongs to a dean or a CHUL committee. All constituencies affected have the right to be consulted and actively involved in the decisions that affect their lives (and their pocketbooks). The proposals of the Dowling Committee on Governance, to be released soon, are a major step in this direction, and deserve thoughtful consideration by the entire Harvard community.

As accusations fly from both CHUL members and shuttle drivers, we should try to think carefully before attacking fellow students. Wages should not be cut--money for the nighttime shuttle, which is vital for security, is surely available and should be appropriated immediately.

What can the Harvard student do? Get involved. Support the Student Assembly, talk to your CHUL representatives and visit the next CHUL meeting--they're open, look into GUERILLA, do something. Most important, remember that all Harvard students have something in common: We are confronting a tremendous rise in the cost of the Harvard education while services rightfully ours are being cut, and our needs deliberately ignored. If we continue to speak out only when our own personal need is involved, none of us can ever win. Natasha Pearl '82