A Policeman's Lot

Rioting undergraduates have long come to expect favors from the University Police as their due. Students know that, more often than not, these men are trying to keep rioters out of the hands of town authorities. This is an unexpected, if undeserved, kindness.

What is unexpected is the sort of debt last week's rioters owe the Cambridge City Police. For these gentlemen--many called in from their off-time--conducted themselves throughout both evenings with restraint, and their good sense and equally good nature kept the riot from developing into something far uglier than what it was: undergraduates revelling in spring and the diploma issue.

While it would perhaps be too much to thank the Cambridge Police force for making rioting a pleasure, it is entirely proper to thank them for making it safe. Even their use of tear gas is--in retrospect--understandable, for it, too, probably saved a few people from really hurting themselves. In New Haven, Harvard students should remember, they do things differently.