On the other hand, the leaders of COWI cannot assert that they have altered Wellesley if change, in its most obvious form, is persistently resisted. Black students' demands to see themselves integrated into all aspects of life at Wellesley must be a part of any resolution calling for significant change on the campus.

Ultimately, any revisions in Wellesley's educational system will come, as the students in Ethos readily admit, from the administration. Students in both COWI and Ethos question the administration's commitment to reformation of the college. Initiative for change has always come from students and has usually succeeded only under student pressure. Ethos' adoption of a wait-and-see attitude after the October 7 meeting marked the end of militancy on the campus, at least for the foreseeable future. The only pressure compelling the administration to act is the interest in the COWI proposals which have developed among students.

When listening or talking to administrators at Wellesley, one immediately senses that at their level there is no feeling of urgency. The college's deans and president are continuously driving home the theme that all changes take time. It is a refrain that blacks have heard before.

But the administration is willing to make some concessions to the demands that black students presented last spring. Joan B. Melvin, dean of students, explained that since a director of special programs is needed, that might be a good place to add a black administrator. Yet such an action is designed only to alleviate immediate grievances; it is not part of a clearly defined pattern of change. As Mrs. Melvin explains, "We don't have a method or answers about what we think a Wellesley education should be, but we are working on it."

It is unfortunate that a group of women whose life work is the organization and direction of education have much less an idea of what an education should offer than do many of their students. But while COWI's leaders have a clear concept of what they seek in an education, their proposals fall short of converting that concept into reality. The girls who should feel most threatened by the organization's rhetoric have little difficulty supporting its proposals; and this means that the proposals are not totally to the point.

UNLIKE COWI, the administration does not have to convince Wellesley girls that the college needs fewer students like themselves. Administrators can simply change the admissions policy to create a more diverse student body. The faculty and the administration do not have to wait for COWI to build up student pressure before any action is undertaken.

For if the administration is short on new ideas, it should be able to use its experience to implement the ideas of its more forward looking students. What sort of changes come to Wellesley should not, as Miss Adams likes to say, depend entirely on the students.

To undertake the type of changes that COWI and Ethos seek would expose the administration to criticism from many of its students and alumnae. Only a firm commitment to change would permit Miss Adams and her subordinates to disregard the criticism. The past history of this Wellesley administration gives little reason to expect that such a commitment will be forthcoming