SHUT-EYE

When a dusty copy of the will of T. Jefferson Coolidge came to light last spring, the Corporation discovered that for forty years it had been mistaken about that document. Instead of establishing an unrestricted fund to encourage debating, as had long been supposed, the will provided that the sum was to be entirely devoted to prizes for outstanding debaters. The Corporation promptly enforced this provision, and the Harvard University Debating Council found itself penniless.

A temporary "war-chest" voted by the Corporation for the present year has merely postponed the Council's fate. With an annual schedule of fifty debates, its expenses total about $200, only a fraction of which can be raised by the newly-instituted membership dues. Unless some way of obtaining funds is found, the Council will be obliged to shut up shop next year--leaving the Coolidge prizes to be awarded to the best debaters on a nonexistent team.

In the last few years the Council has grown from a tiny and neglected group into a large and flourishing organization, with a highly successful record of debates with other colleges, over the radio, and among the Houses. To deprive the Council of funds at this point would mean to destroy it at the very moment when it had finally proved workable and useful. Yesterday's forum on presidential possibilities was only an example of the consistently interesting meetings being sponsored by the Council.

For these reasons the Corporation should not have many quains about indulging in a little legal shenanigans to extricate the Council from its unhappy position. By shutting its eyes to the letter of the bequest, as it has unwittingly done for so many years, the Corporation can perpetuate the spirit of the Coolidge grant, and encourage the continued life and growth of debating. By insisting on the exact words of the will, the Corporation will only kill that which the bequest aimed to promote.