Trashing Liberty

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I am writing this letter as a representative of the Civil Liberties Union of Harvard to express our dismay at the recent decision by the administration to enforce the rule prohibiting the distribution of unsolicited publications to the doorsteps of freshman rooms. We find this rule misguided and damaging to the free exchange of ideas within the Harvard community.

In making this decision our administration seemed to have weighed the importance of the consequences and determined that keeping the Yard clean is more important than allowing some of the University's publications to reach their Freshman audiences. The Civil Liberties Union of Harvard believes that in our society freedom of expression is one of our most important freedoms. Within the University in particular, the value of the flow of ideas assumes central importance.

Why has the administration of Harvard forgotten this value which we all, we thought, hold so important? Typically, those who assume to limit our basic civil liberties have offered reasons such as public health, national security, or domestic tranquility to convince us to accept their measures. The feeble reason the administration offers: concern about the Yard's appearance.

The Civil Liberties Union of Harvard applauds the efforts of various parties to "work around" this rule. Offering free subscriptions, providing containers at the dorms, or adding more garbage cans are positive measures toward avoiding the negative consequences of this ruling. We look forward, however, to a day when the Harvard administration will adopt rules that help students, not impose barriers that must be creatively surpassed. The burden for solving this problem now rests on the freshmen themselves. The freshman class must stand up for themselves--they must register complaints in all forms: direct person contact, phone calls, and letters to the Freshman Dean's office. They must show that they care; it is too easy to restrict the rights of the apathetic. Treasurer,   Civil Liberties Union of Harvard