Harvard's Only Legitimate Student Government can serve its constituents best by tackling questions of campus life and academics--and leaving larger political causes to other advocates.

As Offutt has said, "Our mandate is to detect areas of student life that can be improved and to go about improving them."

In apparent agreement with this philosophy, a majority of council members voted against distributing the letter.

For a moment, it looked as though Offutt had achieved a major victory. It looked as though the new chairman had engineered a political realignment, forging a new and unprecedented consensus on the council's proper sphere of action.

For a moment.

BEFORE ADJOURNING on Nov. 3, the council authorized its officers to purchase a computer for their Canaday Hall office, the same office they share with the Endowment for Divestiture. Not wanting to concern themselves with bytes, graphics capability, or interface options, council members imposed only one restriction on the acquisition: "the computer shall not be manufactured by any firm /corporation that currently does business in South Africa."