CLASS OFFICERS OR NOT?

Class elections during the past few years have been a farce. When a rule has to be passed requiring a bare sixty percent of the class to vote to make the election valid, and when even under that rule two or three successive elections are necessary, it shows one of two conditions: either that that students are asleep or that class officers are non-essentials. If we judge by the noise made over last year's elections, it seems scarcely possible that the students are asleep; the only alternative is that they do not want class officers.

If we stop and ask ourselves the duties of officers in the three lower classes, the first that occurs to us is Smokers. But the smokers are cared for by a committee appointed by the officers. Obviously the committee could be picked in a simpler way. We have difficulty already in thinking of other duties;--the small ones which do exist could be provided for through the student council. At last we come to a single reason for the existence of class officers that cannot be answered by argument;--namely, Tradition.

Tomorrow will bring another test of the present order. If the men of 1923 and 1924 want class officers, for the sake of tradition or for any other reason, they should be sure to vote tomorrow. But if they feel that officers are unnecessary, or that a new system of class organization should be tried, they should stay away from the polls. It is as absurd for a man to vote just because his roommate does or because he has a personal friend among the nominees as it is for him not to vote because he is too lazy. If the required sixty percent does not vote, the Student Council should take immediate steps for a change in the class constitutions; if the election is successful, the present system will be vindicated.