One hundred and twenty-five members of the H. S. U. last night heard Howard Munford Jones, Professor of English, and Robert H. Lane '39 speak at a banquet in Leverett House in honor of Lane's recent election to the national chairmanship of the American Student Union.

In a discussion of teaching versus research, Professor Jones distinguished between two opposing temperaments: the type that likes its opinions readymade; and the intellectually curious. The Romans, he said, belonged to the first type, great empire-builders partly because of their "honest stupidity". The Greeks, who created the culture that the Romans consolidated, fall in the second classification.

He compared American colleges to the Romans, and universities to the Greeks.

Lane outlined the two main battles that other American Student Union chapters must flight:--for educational facilities, and for academic freedom. Although Harvard conditions warrant no such battle, Lane warned the organization against becoming a mere discussion group, stating that discussion is only a prelude to action.

He stressed the fact that the Student Union excludes no one on grounds of political beliefs, requiring only a desire to preserve democracy.