And in the houses, the story is one of disparities. While Lowell House residents gaze at a video portrait of the campus, their Eliot peers will host Leonard Bernstein '39, someone whose presence in a house dining hall is truly something special.

All things considered, the seven-day program of events reveals nothing so much as an absence of rationale. The jubilee lacks intellectual emphasis, and even more conspicuously, it loses sight of the occasion, giving us little opportunity to reflect on Harvard's past, present, and future.

A few weeks ago, before the general student population returned to Cambridge, Harvard's alumni and elder elite celebrated the 350th at special party of their own. The powers that be left all but a few token undergraduates out of that celebration; now, they are leaving us out of the celebration that is ostensibly our own.

Dissenting Opinion

THE UNDERGRADUATE 350th celebration of Harvard has, unfortunately, left many undergraduates insulted rather than inspired. The majority, frightened by the prospect of Dean Epps choosing his favored undergraduates to attend exclusive events, has condemned the proposed commemoration as an affirmation of Harvard's worst traditions.

This understandable concern has led the majority to attack not only elitism, but also the very idea of having events which only a select number of undergraduates may attend. Planned fairly, though, invitation-only events are an entirely appropriate way for the whole university to celebrate itself.

Harvard at its best is a community based not so much on democracy as meritocracy. What is great about this university, and what sadly is untrue about this country, is that equality of opportunity does exist here. It is up to us as individual members of this community to take advantage of our opportunity. Inviting the acknowledged leaders of the undergraduate population to these selective events celebrates not so much the individual achievements of the guests, but a community which provides us the unique opportunity to pursue the best in each of us.

Elitists often argue that they are entitled to favors by right of birth. It seems quite the same for Harvard students to argue that because they are students here they have a right to attend every event.

For freshman and sophomores who inevitably will be left out, it is not so much their fault as an accident of history--it is this year and not the next which is the 350th year of Harvard. Attending a four-year institution necessarily means that some at the school--the upperclassmen--will be more a part of that school than those new to it. The school maintains it's continuity precisely through the process in which one gradually from year to year becomes more and more a part of the school. We are not nameless faceless numbers here; equal simply because we are all Harvard students. We are individuals, some who have done much here, others who have just arrived. To be truly part of this community--or any community for that matter--is to understand and to appreciate that process.

It will be a shame if Dean Epps chooses undergraduates on the basis of their lineage rather than their merit, but it is equally sad to see undergraduates craving fairness that would denigrate their individuality.