Last Fall 3000 students went to hear Willy Brandt speak in Sanders Theatre. 1800 were turned away at the door. Later the same scene was reenacted when Ross Barnett spoke in the same hall. Two years ago even more people were turned away when Nelson Rockefeller spoke in Sanders.
Now George Wallace is coming to Harvard, and, while few Cambridge residents agree with the governor's civil rights policies, many will want to go see the man who presides over Alabama today.
It seems incredible that a University which can attract such speakers to its campus cannot provide adequate space for its students to hear them. Sanders Theatre seats 1200 when jammed to capacity. Rindge Tech Auditorium, which seats 1500, is available at the whim of the Cambridge School Committee, which denied it to Barnett and presumably will do the same to Wallace.
Before the current building program is finished, the Administration would do well to consider erecting an auditorium large enough to hold the crowds that inevitably want to hear the speakers who come to Harvard. Hearing important speakers on important issues is an essential part of a Harvard education; it should not have to be missed simply because of a lack of space.
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