ON THE STUDENT SLAUGHTER IN MEXICO...

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The editorial in this morning's CRIMSON is entitled "Isolationism" and although the content concerns itself with Radcliffe administration-student communication, certainly a matter of some validity, it might, coming so soon after Mexico's "Noche Triste," have more appropriately concerned itself with the isolationism of the Harvard-Radcliffe student body.

If the CRIMSON is the voice of this student body, how can the premeditated slaughter of students, gathered together in non-violent demonstration, occur without raising instant editorial comment and condemnation? Is it because "it can't happen here" where students and administration work at developing a dialogue "in an atmosphere of mutual respect?" Columbia, Chicago and numerous recent events tell us that it can happen here: the Harvard community has no guaranteed immunity to the forces of reaction. Slaughter of students is a world-wide phenomenon no longer unknown within our own boundaries.

But it must be stopped and stopped now if for no other reason than that the students of today are the only ones capable of uniting in action to bring about a world in which people can live in peace and dignity. They are the ones who can refuse to fight the wars; they are the ones who can refuse to furnish the brains needed for exploitation. They are the only ones who can end the university-military-political alliance. My generation no longer has the vitality for effective action even if we have the willingness. The cold war, McCarthyism and affluence have sapped our strength. There is only fear, frustration and impotence. We are effectively disenfranchised.

Students are young and have the vitality needed to act. But they will not have the strength for effective action unless they are united. They must learn the lesson that their elders did not learn. They must realize that a Columbia student clubbed is a Harvard student downed; that a Clean-for-Gene girl maced is a Cliffie gassed; and that a Mexisan student shot is a student dead everywhere tomorrow--unless all student voices are heard in solidarity against such acts of repression and horror. It is not enough today to have the SDS demonstrate in front of the Mexican consulate. Every campus newspaper should be speaking, including the CRIMSON. Mrs. James M. Ansara