Breakfast Beef

To the Editors of The Crimson:

By administrative fiat, Dean John Fox has brought about an unwanted and unnecessary change in the college dining policies. Without consulting CHUL, Dean Fox has presented most Harvard upperclassmen with an undesirable situation--in order to get much more than o.j. and coffee for breakfast, upperclassmen will have to take a hike in the mornings. Rather than being able to tumble out of bed at 9:25, stumble into breakfast at 9:29, and truck up to class at 9:55 with a group of friends in the House, upperclassmen will be obliged to negotiate the locked entrances of unfamiliar Houses in search of the egg, the waffle, and the dining hall.

The problem with Dean Fox's plan, however, goes beyond the inconvenience it will cause upperclassmen. Such a dining policy will also threaten the House system itself. Upperclassmen will no longer be able to enjoy the "morning-style" amiability and conviviality of their own dining hall; instead, they will be eating in an environment that is best approximated by the Freshman Union.

Although this action is being taken in order to defray the increased cost of opening the Union for weekend dining, it is doubtful that such a comprehensive dining plan is consistent with the best intersts and wishes of the student body. Last year, CHUL overwhelmingly defeated a proposal to institute a continental breakfast plan in the majority of the Houses. There has also been a lack of evidence indicating that students are willing to bear increased board costs that would be necessitated by the opening of the Union on weekends.

Regardless of the merits of the various alternatives for undergraduate dining, it is reproachable that the Harvard administration took action without consulting students. Lee Bains