2

—

Student ‘hie

What dire offense from am’rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things ...

There ‘has been considerable discussion regarding the
arrests last week of five Haverford students involved in
the traditional Maypole Raid. In their defense, a number
of sympathetic comrades have seized this opportunity
to level diatribes against the inhumanity of the Lower
Merion police as evidenced by the unnecessary severity
of their actions last Friday morning. We fail to see
justification for such an oversimplified argument,

To begin, there ARE legitimate grounds for protest
against the manner in which two of the five students in
question were searched and subsequently taken to the
police station. The two
that they were searched without a warrant: clearly, a

oe
ge legal violation. Irrespective of the situation, the
se: police had no legal right to subject Spence Hipp and Ed
\ Sleeper to the search which established their possession

of fireworks. In consequence of the illegal search, it
cannot be denied that the two arrests which followed
were illegal, That the fines imposed by the court were
not substantial enough to make pursuit of the issue
worthwhile, does not erase the fact that the two arrests
were obvious violations of the students’ rights.

Whether the students were guilty or innocent of the
charges is another question. As far as we can determine,

# all five arfested were no guiltier than the dozens of
# Haverfordians on or in the vicinity of the Bryn Mawr
: campus who remained unarrested. The arrests made,

however, were no-doubt ‘‘token arrests,’’ standard police
procedure in alleged ‘‘mob situations.’’ It is a safe
assumption, we think, that had these five not been

# arrested, others would very likely have spent the night
= in their stead in the cells, There are known cases

of students apprehended for actions that were plainly

= grounds for arrest who were allowed to gofree (e.g., the

case of the student elsewhere referred to in this issue
as Lancy Paxon),
As to the complaint registered concerning police

©. prutality--the indiscriminate and unmeted use of billy

sticks?--we find it hard to believe. Again, use of the
clubs commensurate with the situation is standard

3 2 procedure. To date, we have received no reports of

minor, much less serious, injuries inflicted by policemen
on Haverford students. If, indeed, -an arrested student
was handcuffed, the arresting officer may well have been
remembering the numerous occasions on which ap-
prehended students, noting an opportunity, have escaped.
The monumental example from the history of Haverford
tomfoolery is the incident where one captive Haver-
fordian not only attempted escape but made, moreover, a
valiant effort to confiscate a squad car while escaping.
Hmmm? Why, then, should Clancey hesitate to handcuff
the unlucky Haverfordian? He won’t die, it’s not poison.

In addition, it has always been our impression that

= one of the major objectives of the traditional raid is

to outwit the police and the Burns guards. Participants
could not have been so naive as to believe that there
was no risk involved, That five students were arrested
is unfortunate. That they were compelled to bear the
brunt of consequences for what was more or less a
College raid is still more unfortunate. The NEWS pro-
poses that a collection be taken on the Haverford and
Bryn Mawr campuses to pay--if not in full at least in
part--the fines imposed on the five students.

But any contention that the actions in general of the
police force in the 1966 Maypole Raid were unjust is
virtually without basis, We have already noted the single
incident where protest is justified. Aside from that, we
can find no reason for_ complaint. The five students
will have local records of no real significance. Nearly
all applications (for occupations, etc.) ask whether the
applicant has ever been arrested for misdemeanor or
felony, and the students’ charges fall into neither of these
categories, Moreoyer, should the students: be asked
whether. they have ever been arrested at all, they will be
able to qualify their answer by producing the letter given
them by the judge explaining the trivial nature of the
offense.

In addition to the example of this letter, there have
been several notable examples of cooperation in the
past on the part of the L.M. police: their unbiased
intervention to maintain order when Professor William
Davidon spoke in Ardmore, their promptness in rushing
one Lloyd student to a local hospital, their aid in the
investigation of thefts from students’ rooms and faculty
homes, and, above all, their non-interference in matters
best resolved strictly within the Haverford College com-
munity.

Finally, one sweeping criticism needs to be raised
against the Bryn Mawr administration: the seriousness
with which they seem to view May. Day is out of place.
Given this inane attitude, however, they have a per-
fect right to ask aid from the local police to protect

_maypoles, having no effective security

In sum, Bryn Mawr’s tradition is
seriously, and so is Haverford’s, a
ves this, whereas the Bryn Mawr



THE HAVERFORD NEWS - THE COLLEGE) NEWS

Paaitger oe



ie
students have reported ie

Friday, May 6, 1966

Letters to the Editor

Villanova arty

To the rene

I spe t Friday night studying in your. excel-
lent libr and came across a copy of your not-
so-excellent newspaper, I am a Villanova student;
I write to protest mildly the inanities uttered by Tom
McCafferty, as quoted by Dennis Stern in his page
one: article headed, ‘‘Transfer Students Cite Rea-
sons:for Switches;’’.

But, first, I think the whole article reeks of self-
congratulatory pettiness, particularly the compari-
sons to Columbia, Harvard, and Brandeis, It was
as if the editors were plagued by insecurity con-
cerning the*status of their school, and believed
that status to be enhanced by a recitation of the

reasons cited for transfer by these isolated in-

dividuals, Gentlemen, your standing as an institute
established for the pursuit of excellence can be
nothing but demeaned by articles like these, '

Superficially, and in broad general terms, what
McCafferty says is at least partially true, Iam still
unable, however, to justify his transfer,

McCafferty perceives that Villanova possesses:
1) a party atmosphere; 2) complete lack of interest
in academics; 3) students who work only for grades;
4) students who dump on Haverford; 5) professors
who do not respect independently -thinking students;
6) professors who are disgusted with the academic
apathy, _

He also cited Haverford’s smaller size and
better reputation (presumably academic) as further
reason for his switch. These latter two are un-
questionably true, though, again, one might question
whether they are sufficient cause for transfer,

One must at all times remember that Haverford
and Villanova, broadly conceived, are designed to
serve vastly different student bodies, Generally,
Villanova services the Catholic middle class, while
Haverford draws its students from a considerably
more cultured and wealthy background, Villanova’s
entrance requirements are. significantly lower than
Haverford’s, thus resulting in a Haverford student
body not only more ‘‘socially acceptable,’’ but more
intelligent on the whole, These facts determine the
college in question, again broadly defined,

I submit that all of McCafferty’s remarks are
true only in reference to the GENERAL student
body, or (in two instances), to the GENERAL
faculty,

But McCafferty is presumably an individual, one
who does not absorb his personal identity from those
immediately around him, He should be able to
resist any mongrelization if he wishes, but I sug-
gest that if he did, he’s missing the point of educa-
tion,

Perhaps what I’m trying to say is better indicated
by the preface to one of Kierkegaard’s essays, in
which he quotes Lessing to the effect that man’s goal
is not the truth, but the persistent striving after
truth,

Students at Haverford have it made, They have
sympathetic people all around, to coddle and pro-
tect them from the harsh light of intolerance, At
Villanova the articulateintelligentsiaare a distinct
minority, Our identity is fired in the furnace of a
Sometimes-hostile and always-suspicious atmo-
sphere, We have experience in dealing with agreat
amalgam, for our student body includes those who
could easily qualify for Haverford to those who do
not belong in any college at all. This amalgam pro-
motes a better understanding of human nature, and
hence a better understanding of self, It inculcates
an ability to adjust to adversity, something all of
us must acquire. In short, student life at Villanova
involves a much larger component of striving for
those perceptive enough to realize its existence, and
those strong and wise enough to translate it for
their own personal development (unlike the woe
McCafferty),

But perhaps my previous remarks have unneces-
sarily indicted Villanova as an academic institution.
Though unquestionably the average Haverfordian
faculty member is a better scholar and teacher,
I suggest that the large size of the Villanova faculty
makes it easy to construct a program incorporating
professors and courses as good as, if not better
than, those at Haverford, I further suggest that
several of our departments (though I hestitate to
make comparisons like these) are, on the whole,
decidedly superior to those at Haverford, Though
there are others, I will mention only the most
important, Philosophy.

Finally, Villanova’s large size affords her dis-
tinct advantages which, alas, even Haverford cannot
match,

We have more colleges and more courses, One
may choose electives that simply do not exist at
Haverford, |

Our extra-curricular life is substantially larger
and more diversified, catering to a wider range of
interests, and hence providing a more ok

- adjunct to the academic life, ;
Our greater resources and litger’sixt “enable “

us to attract orchestras such as George Szell and
the Cleveland Philharmonic, speakers such as

Martin Luther King, folk groups such as Peter, Paul

|

and Mary, politicians such as William Buckley,
commencement speakers such as Arthur Goldberg
and philosophers such as A, Hilary Armstrong of
the University of Liverpool,

Under miscellaneous, our Intercollegiate Jazz
Festival is the best in the country andour Graduate
Theater is the equal of — any on the eastern

- seaboard,

And our social life is without a doubt superior
to that of Haverford’s, from the before-concert
cocktail party to the inter-fraternity bash at
Aquarama, Recall, please, that four of your seven
transferees explicitly listed the better social life
at Haverford as one of their reasons for switching.

In conclusion, then, it is obvious that Haverford
and Villanova are different, but they are designed
to be different, Haverford tries to steal maypoles

_ from Bryn Mawr, while Villanova marches on Rose-
' mont, A distinct minority of Haverford’s sheltered

student body seek their adjustment to adversity in
extra-campus activities, such as work among the
poor and disadvantaged, The minority of Villanova

who are Haverford’s intellectual equals also seek |

their adjustment to adversity outside the campus,
but without the ‘‘surcease of sorrow’’ to which to
return, provided by a protective (and perhaps un-
realistic?) college atmosphere,

Each school has its advantages; neither should
throw stones at the other, whether indirectly or

directly, I ask you to print this inordinantly. long. -

letter (for whose length I apologize) without editing
,to enable your excellent student body to form a
more correct: and more. intelligent impression of
Villanova than that provided by the unfortunately
oversimplified and incomplete remarks of Mr,

— Jeff Radowich

‘Villanova University

Men in Rooms

To the Editors:

Evidently a number of girls have been acting
indiscreetely or offensively in regard to the menin
the rooms privileges at Bryn Mawr. This is a
serious problem, especially since these privileges
are greatly jeopardized if such behavior continues,
This aspect of the problem and the responsibili-
ties of students and administration will be thorough-
ly discussed in the dormitories, and I wouldlike to
discuss a problem which I think is even more im-
portant than the behavior which is causing all the

furor. This problem is that many girls have gone .

directly to the dean with reports of objectionable
activity, instead of going through the self govern-
ment channels, The proper procedure would be to
speak to the girl, the hall president, and if neces-

‘sary to the executive board of self-gov. Thewarden,

the dean, or the president of the college are not the
people to speak to unless the problem is ignored by
all of self-gov, which is unlikely to happen,

In going to the administration rather than self-
gov, girls are jeopardizing much more than the men
in the rooms privileges; they are jeopardizing the
effectiveness of self-gov, While the concern of the
administration in this problem is certainly justi-
fiable, the behavior of those who went to the ad-
ministration before self-gov. is not at all justi-
fiable, and is a problem which self-gov. should
emphasize as much, if not more, than those prob-
lems .regarding men in the rooms, Furthermore,
it was up to the dean to take note of the complaints

which were brought to her, but also to inform the ~

girls that the complaints must be brought to self-
gov. I do not know if this was done,

The only strength our self government system
can have lies in the ability of the members to deal
with problems within the system, Taking problems
to the administration as a first measure is exteme-

ly irresponsible, Nora Clearman, '67

Indifference

To the Editors: __
It is a pity that Dennis Carson knows so little
about the ‘‘new left’’ both because it is something
which he ought to be informed about for its own
sake and because, when he undertakes to speak on
this subject before an audience, he ought to feel
enough responsibility to that audience to know what
he is talking about, But his. ignorance on this sub-
ject is certainly much more forgivable than his
apparent indifference to the great suffering that
exists in the world and to the nature of a society
that permits or causes much of that suffering, This
indifference was clearly shown in Mr, Carson’s
collection speech by his callous, flip tone and his

| willingness to exploit any issue, however serious,
. merely to. get a few laughs, Haverford certainly
needs students with more of a sense-of-humor,.--.

but not of Carson’s kind,
Steven Gerber

Bill Phelps

Li

peer |