There too, however, Sarah Lawrence is moving closer to the tried and true. Over concentration in the arts, a common occurrence in the past, is no longer permitted. No girl may take two courses in the arts simultaneously until her senior year (another recently applied curricular restriction). Even in this area, Sarah Lawrence's radicalism has become more moderate.

In the basement of the art center is "The Caf," a lounge-cafeteria where girls congregate in their spare time. Usually one can see there a Princeton, Yale, or Columbia student who has driven to Sarah Lawrence to spend the afternoon hours. While representatives from these three universities date the Sarah Lawrence girls most often, one occasionally sees some pig-tailed coed sporting a Harvard sweatshirt.

An evening study date will usually end up in "The Spoon," the place-to-go for Sarah Lawrence. Complete with good food, dim lighting, and a juke box, it is an ideal place for coffee and conversation. Similar on a smaller scale to Cronin's, the Spoon is not strictly a college hangout; residents from the area come also to consume bottles of beer from the counter or liquor from the bar.

When she has a formal date, the Sarah Lawrence girl will typically dress chicly and drive to New York with her escort to see a show, stop in somewhere afterward, and return in plenty of time for her 2 a.m. curfew (Weekday curfews are 1:30). There is also a great exodus to Princeton, Yale, or home on weekends, leaving the campus quiet and lonely.

The Student's College

Sarah Lawrence co-eds must depend on their dates and the New Haven rail-road for transportation to New York, since car permission is rarely granted. Safety, inadequate parking facilities, and a desire to keep the college residential are the stated reasons for this regulation, which is unpopular among the students. One dean added that banning cars has the extra advantage of eliminating one difference between the financial haves and have-nots.

The Sarah Lawrence girl likes to think of herself not only as an isolated individual, but as an important part of the college community. Consequently, student organizations form a significant part of campus life. Last year the Student Council decided to give car privileges to seniors, and the recommendation was sent to the Joint Committee, consisting of nine voting members, three of whom are students. Here the proposal was rejected on the grounds outlined above, and the added consideration that seniors should not be treated differently from other students.

For those who break school regulations there is the unwelcome institution of the Council warning. If a girl fails, for example, to attend a House meeting--there are no sororities at Sarah Lawrence--the House president may recommend that she receive a Council warning, making her liable for one hour's "service" to the college. This service can take any of several forms; she may work in the library for an hour or perhaps wait on tables. Emphasis is placed on the flexibility of punitive measures. Each case, Council members claim, is treated individually without regard to precedent--another instance of the ineluctable cult of the individual.

A glance at the Sarah Lawrence handbook reveals a wealth of official committees and organizations in addition to the Student Council and the usual extracurricular clubs. An adviser-advisee committee, a curriculum committee, and a scholarship committee seem to provide ample justification for the claim that Sarah Lawrence students contribute to policies which at other schools remain the exclusive province of the administration.

Despite one student's claim that, "This is our home because at Sarah Lawrence, we know the school belongs to us," the truth is that student organizations are no more powerful than at many other schools. (One junior referred to "the myth that this is a student-run college.") The administration is progressive enough to redress student grievances, and the school is small enough to ensure that these grievances will be heard. A burgeoning student interest in Russian, for instance, is likely immediately to produce a Russian course, as it did last year, but the situation is by no means as unique as the student body likes to think.

Nonetheless, the prevailing student attitude--exaggerated as it may be--produces an interest in the running of the college that is commensurate with the spirit of inquiry that Sarah Lawrence attempts to foster. Former president Harold Taylor, who retired last year, discussed administrative matters freely with the students, encouraging the feeling that the students work hand in hand with, rather than under the aegis of, the administration. The feeling of intellectual community appears to be a movement away from individualism. One suspects that individualism came first to Sarah Lawrence, and that the community spirit represents an attempt at moderation.

The new president of Sarah Lawrence is Harrison Tweed, a prominent New York attorney who spent his undergraduate and law school days at Harvard. Only a three-day-a-week president, he maintains his law practice, working in New York on Monday and Friday. This is President Tweed's first and last year in this capacity, for his is an interim appointment, lasting until a permanent president is selected.

President Tweed's principal functions are representing the college and acting in a fund-raising capacity. Financially, he concedes, it is "a great handicap to have female alumnae," for it is their husbands that usually control the purse-strings. Active contributing by parents of undergraduates, however, adds to the success of an annual fund which generally nets about $100,000, sufficient to meet the college's basic needs.

Despite its lack of sufficient scholarship funds, Sarah Lawrence was one of the first colleges to refuse the government loans offered under the National Defense Education Act, because of the attached loyalty affidavit.

Even the conservative, exceptionally wealthy, neighboring town of Bronxville seems to have been won over to the college. Town-gown relations, tenuous at time in the past, are better now partly due to Sarah Lawrence's sharing of its auditorium and frequent invitations to Westchester residents to attend theatrical performances and other college events.