Harvard Students Can't Always Get What They Want

To the editors:

Your staff editorial on the Adams Dining Hall (“Vanity Fare,” March 11) comes as yet another slap in the face to a community that has had to deal with incredible overcrowding in our dining hall—and faced ridicule whenever we try to do something about it. On March 8, The Crimson reported that Adams was serving over 1,100 dinners a week to first-years, about 40 percent of all dinners served at Adams and a number exceeding all other Houses combined (News, “Adams Closes Dining Hall to First-Years”). You conveniently omit such facts in your opinion.

Further, by labeling actual enforcement of the rule as “elitist,” you reinforce the notion that Harvard students should be able to get whatever they want, even if it means breaking rules. Even if we disagree on whether the rule is appropriate, I’d like to think that most of us recognize that it is still inappropriate to steal large amounts of food or treat the dining hall staff with disrespect. If someone wants to brazenly walk in without swiping, take food they aren’t paying for (causing food shortages) and then verbally assault the card-checker upon being confronted, why shouldn’t they suffer consequences? What’s wrong with wanting space to eat in our own dining hall and wanting our guests to treat the staff with simple courtesy?

Christopher A. Lamie ’04

March 11, 2004

The writer is a resident of Adams House.