ORDEAL OF BATTLE

After a period of intestine strife the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art is preparing for the coming season under the direction of its undergraduate board which assumed control as a result of the reorganization of last spring. This year the struggle to maintain the Society will be even greater than last and it will prove a severe test for the new administration. Support, whether financial or moral, is no longer lavished indiscriminately by the general public and the Society "must produce the goods" if it would continue to live.

The danger constantly threatening the vitality of the Society is that its original purpose may be forgotten either in an effort to conform to popular tastes or in a search for novelty for its own sake. The Society is the only first-hand contact offered the University layman with pioneer thought and technique in painting and sculpture and should shows be chosen for other reasons than that they are honest and capable examples of the forward line in contemporary art then the Society will lose its reason for being.

Harvard is often accused of being sheltered from the real world outside its gates. But the purpose of the Art Society if honestly and intelligently executed would serve to bring a part of the contemporary fight for positive, creative ideas, which is part of the real life outside, into the life of the University. Whether undergraduates with little experience, few outside contacts, and heavy academic schedules will be able to carry the full responsibility of the Society remains to be seen. If, however, this year of undergraduate management is a failure the Society should be prepared to return the executive authority to a professional administrator and to reinstate the undergraduate board in its advisory position.