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The Harvard Lampoon which tentatively accepted female candidates this Fall for the first time in history, will probably not go coed after all for at least a year.
The Lampoon's undergraduate executive board decided Tuesday evening to tell the six girls in the current Lampoon competition that they will not be eligible for election this Fall.
Lampoon president Martin H. Kaplan '71, said yesterday that the problem is a constitutional one. The Lampoon constitution, he said, forbids any major change in the humor magazine's operation unless it is approved by two consecutive executive boards. The constitution also seems to imply that such a change would have to be proposed at the beginning of a board's tenure.
As a new executive board will not take office until February, even if they approved going coed, the 'Poon could not go coed until another board approves it in February, 1972.
"The purpose of the founders was to prevent one year's group from making a decision that will affect the Lampoon long after they have left it."
Samuel W. Van Dam '71, Lampoon Narthex, said some executive board members felt the question of going coed needed more time for discussion anyway.
"The consensus of opinion was clearly that we really made a mistake letting women in without thinking about it more carefully," Van Dam said. "Right now I think women would not be a panacea for the Lampoon. I'm glad we're delaying the decision."
"There was also a constitutional question," he added.
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