"Victimized"

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions, at the request of the writer, will names be withheld.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

I am much encouraged at the recent agitation for evening chemistry laboratory hours. Men of my acquaintance declare they would take more science courses, were it not for the interference of laboratory hours with valuable extra-curricular activities. One man has even been deterred from specializing in chemistry because of this conflict, and because he felt athletics and various student enterprises were more broadening and worth while.

Last year I was forced to spend three entire afternoons a week on the "lab" work of just one of the chemistry courses I was taking. I was several times hindered in the work by being forced to stop at five o'clock in the middle of a difficult preparation, which a half hour would conclude, but which had to be postponed for complete repetition the next day.

A brief illness left me far behind schedule with my chemistry. In an effort to obtain more time than I could arrange for by day, I equipped a cellar room at home for the adequate performance of various experiments. I was rewarded by the information that work done outside could not be accepted for credit, and yet I was not being victimized more than anyone else.

The matter of the expense of evening operation should not prove difficult. The stockroom might be closed at 7 o'clock without great inconvenience to evening workers. In many courses, a definite scheme of analysis in a laboratory manual is followed, and instructors would be unnecessary. Only an occasional man need be retained, to keep order and insure the safety of the building.

I feel sure I am not alone in earnestly advocating such an extension of hours and hope a reasonable solution of the difficulties may be made before another academic year begins. George H. Blackwell '31