CAMBRIDGE REGISTRATION

To the Editors of The Crimson:

For many years, we have been trying to get the Harvard community more interested in the city many of them live in. One of the prime ways to become involved is, in our minds, to register to vote here in Cambridge. We would like to see students as well as faculty taking part in the decisions that affect them as well as the other citizens of our city.

In this context, it is unfortunate that a front page article in Monday's Crimson dealing with voter registration has repeated many of the misleading reasons given in the past so that students would not register here in Cambridge. Yes, a student who registers here will have to pay the state income tax if and only if he earns more than $1600 but he or she will no longer have to pay an income tax in their home state. While it is clear that a professor who comes to Harvard for the year and continues to vote back home must register his or her car here in Massachusetts: it is also likely that a student who registers to vote here may retain his or her home state license plates. In any case, the real problem is that in filing for insurance you must state where the car will be principally garaged; if that place is Cambridge, you must pay accordingly regardless of where you vote.

We feel that the gains to the student from participating in the life of the community in which they live (on the average for a greater number of years than the non-student) far outweigh any disadvantages. Ronald Cohen '58   Executive Director   Cambridge Civic Association   John Brode '52   Democratic City   Committee