The Class Constitution

(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 with held.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

The members of the Senior class are at this time voting for their class officers. On the ballot appear also two issues posted for referendum purposes. The first asks whether the members of the Senior class approve of the class constitution, and the second is; do the members of the class approve of the insurance fund method for providing Class funds.

I do not think I exaggerate when I say an overwhelming majority of the class have never heard of the class constitution. They cannot therefore vote intelligently on the matter. Granted that it is a perfectly adequate constitution, and its features are pleasing to all, no man should be asked to vote on a constitution he knows nothing about. Such votes if cast are unintelligent, and mock whatever democratic features we have left in our system of class government.

Under the present system, no knowledge and discussion of the Constitution has been made public. It has not even been printed, so that members of the Senior class may see what it is they are to ratify. . . To so railroad a constitution through the polls, is a step the most militant dictatorships of Europe have been hesitant to take. . . .

. . . Where is the Constitution, and who are the select few that wrote it? Perhaps it is not, as was granted above, such a fine document. At least it would be interesting to know something about it. The machine in urban polities is possible because the voters are ignorant and needy, and because those who should vote, are indifferent and don't. In this case the ignorance of the members of the Class, is not their fault. They have never had a chance to see the Constitution. The indifference is their fault, and this may be also properly considered an appeal to stir the members of the Class from that indifference.

The same criticisms apply to the ratification of the Class insurance question. What is it? What other methods are there? What has been the experience of the past? How can an objective decision on that subject be respected from voters that know nothing about the facts? The ratification here, does not, of course, have the constituent aspect that the ratification of class constitution involves, yet it nevertheless should be either decided intelligently by the members of the class or left to a wiser or more able body. The worst solution is to let ignorance decide it. Rather, might some wise but high-handed decision from above be given.

To continue such policies is to prove one of two things. The first is that we do not care enough about self government. The other is that we care but cannot achieve it. In both cases, the continuance of such policies should indicate that we are better off to let a dean or class faculty adviser rule us with a firm but wise hand. The blessings of a benevolent despotism would be plenty compared with the system in force now.

The best remedy, however, is not to continue such policies. Constitutions are fundamental, and their provisions should be known and accepted by a special majority. Will the powers that be in the Senior Class government please let members of the Senior class know what it is they are ratifying? Manuel Lee Robbins '32.

(Ed. Note--See notice from the Senior Nominating Committee on page one of today's CRIMSON.)