A MODEST EXTENSION

To the Editors of the Crimson:

May I be permitted an explication (and modest extension) of my remarks at San Francisco as "reported" by the Chronicle and as reprinted in conjunction with your picture of a brainstorming session of the Crimson Editorial Board.

What I actually said was "My predecessor John Finley referred recently to women as a 'civilizing influence.' I tend also to think of them as a sanitizing influence."

It was this latter insight that lead to my vision of moving women "around the House as much as possible," which makes more sense. I think, since we at Harvard have slowly and sadly learned that civilization is not induced through a contact high.

My thinking is, I confess, an example of sexist anti-piggism. Alan Helmert   Powell M. Cabot Professor   of American Literature