A few days later, this conscientious objector returned to his dorm to find his door covered with wrapping paper and a sign reading, "Don't Open Until Xmas."

The proctor and the overzealous Secret Santa clearly weren't trying to be insulting. They simply lacked sensitivity; they didn't imagine that the overflow of Christmas-speak and Christmas images can seem exclusionary to non-Christians.

THE SOLUTION is not, as many civil libertarians would have it, that we should purge all references to religious celebration from public life. Clearly, Jews and other religious minorities would still be conscious of the predominance of Christianity even if every nativity scene disappeared tomorrow.

The City of Cambridge recently became the center of controversy when some city councillors objected to the public display of a Christmas tree. The council voted to substitute a more universal seasonal symbol--a "peace tree."

The 1984 Supreme Court decision of Lynch v. Donnelly carried this nitpicking to extremes, declaring that Christmas trees, being secular holiday symbols, are acceptable holiday decorations on public property, while nativity scenes are impermissible. Presumably, a nativity scene that included a few reindeer and Stars of David would also pass muster.

Many explain the disparity in representation of Christmas and Hannukah decorations by pointing out that Christmas is a major holiday with significant religious meaning, while Hannukah is a relatively unimportant festival enlarged specifically to provide a counter-Christmas for American Jewish children.

Hannukah, then, is an attempt at pluralization of the holiday season. (Interestingly, the traditional December 25 date of Jesus' birth is said to have been created by early Christians for a similar purpose--to coincide with pagan Roman festivals.) There's no reason why that shouldn't be respected for itself. If Harvard is going to go out of its way to celebrate one religious holiday, we should at least make appropriate concessions to the multiplicity of religions here.

Maybe then Harvard's much-touted "diversity" would be a little more evident.

Joanna M. Weiss '94 lives in Weld Hall. She gladly accepts holiday gifts from people of all faiths.