RGA

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

There are times when one wonders about the meaning of democracy in a university. It once seemed as if RGA were evolving into a body by which students could influence the environment in which they live instead of passively waiting to be controlled by the administration. In approving the changes in junior and senior rules RGA showed some vitality; in its second thoughts about sophomore rules it showed more, since these doubts originated with the students themselves and not with President Bunting. In all of this, and in other ways, RGA gave an impression of some independence and a strong possibility of developing more.

Unfortunately, the Radcliffe administration seems to have reversed itself and taken the power of making rules away from the student. In making her announcement of investigation and punishment of overnight signouts President Bunting may have been attempting to give moral guidelines to students. Unfortunately, her unilateral decision to take such a step without first submitting her idea to RGA is a serious misconception of the idea of self-government, and will merely help to increase the feeling of alienations which afflicts so many students because of their inability to come to grips with the real world either inside their academic studies or by regulating their own lives. Samuel R. Friedman '64