WINGS OVER HARVARD

There has been some criticism of the University's failure to join the ranks of the Blue Eagle. Inasmuch as Harvard stands in the position of employer to something over 4,000 wage earners, this policy has been looked upon as evidence of a lack of public spirit on the part of a wealthy, professedly liberal institution. A close examination of all the factors involved, without Harvard as well as within, reveals such criticism as fundamentally short-sighted.

Naturally the question of bucking the government does not enter in, since the ruling on college exemption frees Harvard from any definite obligation. The theory of this exemption is simply that the more youths are absorbed by educational institutions, the fewer there are to swell the still formidable ranks of the unemployed. Adherence to NRA dictates, in the vast majority of colleges, would immediately result in stepping up tuition, board, and room rents, thereby forcing some students to drop out and preventing others from entering.

Harvard is certainly not in this class. Very few of its employees work under conditions beyond the pale of NRA standards. This has led some people to say that a slight rise in costs would be well worth risking for the sake of making a patriotic gesture. But if Harvard is at one end of the ladder, at the other end are such colleges as Piedmont, whose altruistic faculty serves enlightenment to the Appalachian hill-billies in return for potatoes, pumpkins, and watermelons. It would be a gesture costly to the cause of education if Harvard were to arouse prejudice and ill feeling against institutions for which membership in the NRA would mean capitulation.