Pass the Masking Tape

In anticipation of pre-frosh weekend, Harvard Yard last week was awash in color, filled with posters advertising concerts, plays and dances. But the proliferation of those posters has been the subject of ongoing debate between student groups eager to promote their events and some students and administrators concerned about preserving the beauty of the campus. Groundspeople were hard at work last week with fire hoses blasting away the masking tape that had glued old posters to the pavement outside the Science Center, and Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III was spotted personally removing posters from various "illegal" posting sites around the campus.

There's no doubt that the postering on the walkways of the Yard has gotten out of control; the posters are quickly ruined by the foot traffic, left in tattered strips of paper and tape. But the answer should not be a crackdown on student group postering but rather an effort to provide more plentiful and useful locations for that postering.

With dozens of students groups trying each week to advertise a wide variety of events, it's time for the College to re-evaluate their postering policies. First, allow posters to be hung on the green posts and strings roping off the Yard. Unsightly to begin with and intended only to keep students off the preserved-for-Commencement grass, these posts would serve a more significant function if used for legitimate postering. Second, return to the tradition of banners on Holworthy Hall, which were discontinued due to the 1994 renovations of that building. These banners would allow large-scale announcements of a major events and help replace the need for multiple-poster plastering of the walls of Thayer Gate. Third, utilize the space on the walls of the Science Center (where science lectures are currently listed) for similar large-scale announcements. Fourth, allow announcements to be chalked up on the side boards of the Science Center lecture halls. Fifth, permit the use of temporary sidewalk chalk, thereby providing a low-cost and cleaner alternative to covering the pathways with posters. Sixth, install monitors to advertise events in major classroom buildings such as Sever and Harvard Halls, and in other prominent campus locations such as the vestibule of Currier House where students wait for the shuttle. Finally, continue to build more poster kiosks to supplement those already overburdened with advertisements.

Though some argue that postering ruins the beauty of the Yard, quite the opposite is true. The variety and multitude of the posters represent the diversity, involvement and vitality of the students on this campus. Without it, Harvard would look like only a pleasant collection of buildings and little more.