The Mail

To the Editors of the Crimson:

Many people have asked me what interest I, or the Harvard Chapter of AVC could have in the so-called "legalisms" of the current campaign "to democratize the Student Council." It seeems to me that whatever we think of the Council's past--and it has done some good work--its future is of direct concern to all of us. The real issue must be: how can we see to the fulfillment of the aims of the Council as set forth in the preamble to its constitution: "The purpose of the Council is . . . to bring before the governing bodies of the College expression of undergraduate opinion in an effort to make College policies better adapted to the needs of the student body . . . and to serve as the responsible authority in matters where undergraduate action, rather than opinion, concerns the College as a whole."

All of us, veterans or not, have problems whose solution could be furthered by so potentially representative and powerful an organ as the Harvard Student Council. It is in our own personal and collective interest to further the strength of such an organ. I believe everyone at Harvard has a stake in the democracy of the only agency representing the student body. However, to "democratize" the Council would in itself be an empty act; a renovated Council must set out in an active, forthright manner to meet the needs facing students at Harvard in 1946. With this in mind Harvard AVC has named a representative for the proposed investigating committee. Robert L. Koehl '44, Chairman,   Student Activities Committee,   Harvard Chapter, AVC.