To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The time has come for students to protest the lack-adaisical planning and sloppy preparations of the meals that are served in the House dining halls. A little thought and a little care could do much to better the fare and would cost no one a single extra penny. Let me cite a few examples.

The same salad appears almost every noon out of the central kitchen. It is not really a salad at all, but just plain chopped up lettuce. Merely leaving it whole once in a while, or throwing in a cucumber, would buoy the spirits of the dinners. Boiled potatoes doubtless easy to prepare--also appear too often. A potato costs no more mashed than boiled. Why not mash it once in a while?

As for the condition of the food, I might say it is uniformly cold in most of the Houses. Rich looking roast beef can be disappointing if served only lukewarm. And who likes his boiled potato cold? The butter won't even melt. Carrots often appear unscraped.

I have attempted to give some documentation for my feeling that the dining halls, sure of themselves in that their market cannot slip from their grasp, are not doing the best job they can. These are a few of the things that cause the undergraduate to be dissatisfied. There are many more. If the heads of the department sit down together with a will to improve their service rather than to justify it, they will be going far towards the solution of a problem undergraduates feel keenly about three times a day.

John P. Chandler '48.