THE COFFEE HOUR

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Nothing the brevity of your report of the most recent Harkness coffee hour but realizing a news report is perhaps not an appropriate place for the distribution of bouquets, I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate Messrs. Seavey and Toepfer for their excellent defense of the grading system here. Their command of the fact situation, the appealing presentation of their case, and the complementary play between them was a case in point for the merits of the "Harvard Law School discipline."

I do not know what the purpose of this Coffee Hour discussion was. If it was to offer a forum for the discussion of possible improvements of the grading system, no worthwhile student criticism seemed to be presented. At least all student suggestions were absurd (especially those involving any significant changes) and were dismissed as such.

But whether absurd suggestions or not, they were rather varied, whereas the counsel for the faculty seemed quite united in their contention that whatever is is about the best that can be done. The expertise of Mr. Toepfer was not subject to review; and the wit of Mr. Seavey was already res judicata. With appropriate moderation by faculty counsel during the course of the discussion, judgment for the faculty seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

Perhaps the Student Committee to Investigate the Grading System did not realize the discussion would take the form of an adjudicatory proceeding. At any rate Committee counsel seemed prepared, and evidenced some signs of intimidation, though no formal charge of judicial bias was made.

It appeared to me that the Committee's case was laughed right out of court by a display which was truly a performance worthy of the most exaggerated tales of the Harvard lawyer's prowess. It is to be hoped that the tactics of faculty counsel will be recognized as what they were, and that the Committee's practitioners will profit from an initiation under laughter rather than under fire. Furthermore, the Committee need not think their case was a complete failure, for "an enjoyable time was had by all." Joe Mullins 3L