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To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Against the suggested plan of holding the Class Day and Commencement exercises in the Stadium, there are at least a few practical objections. Inclement weather would have a greater effect than before in detracting from the comfort of all, inasmuch as some of these exercises, now held in Sanders, would be transferred to a spot unprotected from the rain and the chill of the wind; and the older graduates, who have the very first right to the enjoyment of Commencement, would suffer the most. The Stadium is also at no small distance from the Yard, where both on Class Day and Commencement those who are fond of the University and who know it intimately, like to find the centre of interest; it is not a wise suggestion which would separate the exercises of graduation and the centres of University life. Then, too, the journey to and from the Stadium, especially if the weather is not ideal, will be the object of no pleasant anticipation and no grateful memory--except that it might furnish gayety to the uninvited rabble who would doubtless gather as if the affair were a horse race or county fair.

Aside from the more practical objections, some of us feel that the tendency to make the public more and more an item of first consideration in University exercises is doing us all a good deal of harm. The public might misunderstand the spirit of our fellowship as thoroughly as they have misunderstood the spirit of our sport.

Class Day is, first of all, our property and although none of us would deny that all the white dresses and colored lanterns and friends and teas and bands are attractive, yet when we sit together in Sanders or cheer the buildings or march together to Chapel, Class Day becomes a matter between ourselves and we do not say much about it to each other and exceedingly little to anybody else. It makes anyone who has been through it a little angry to think that it was all done or ever will be done to amuse those who had tickets. For that reason we do not believe that the argument that the Stadium would allow us a greater number of spectators will endear itself to those who have any serious regard for Class Day and there are many reasons why a change in the old institutions will offend, not only the graduates who come back here in anticipation of old scenes and old associations, but also the men who will deserve to enjoy the same scenes and associations in the future.

It is bad enough that our athletic spirit has become so extravagantly shaped by outside influences--the newspapers and the public who have sat astride of us and spurred us into an absurd athletic gallop--and we should be suspicious of any tendency to emphasize the spectacular side of Class Day, or Commencement. Both these institutions have been built up for many years by the customs and traditions of many classes, and changing them because we have been presented with a fine amphitheatre is akin to coasting in June because someone has given us a toboggan. In spite of the fact that Sanders is limited in capacity and that the Stadium is so gloriously bountiful in its seating, there are many of us who had rather wait, a good many years for our seat in Sanders at Commencement and who had rather see Class Day go on near the College Yard surrounded by all the old associations that we know and liked. R. W. CHILD '03.