In September of 1638, a dying John Harvard willed to what was then the College at Newtowne one half of his estate, his entire library and five or six Nautilus exercise machines. Those machines have remained in the basement of the Malkin Athletic Center (MAC) for more than 350 years.

The Crimson's article on Harvard students flocking to the Wellbridge Center (news story, Oct. 12) underscores just how bad Harvard's general fitness facilities are. That students are willing to pay the Charles Hotel what amounts to $1000 each year in order to avoid the MAC makes three points clear:

1) There are students at Harvard with more spending money than I have.

2) There are students at Harvard who do not enjoy suffocating body odor.

3) There are students at Harvard who do not appreciate living history. For example, in 1215 King John was forced by English barons to sign the Magna Carta--a document that effectively curtailed the absolute power of the King. In compensation, the barons offered King John several slightly used Nautilus exercise machines. You may have seen these machines on display at the Malkin Athletic Center museum for the past 750 years.

The weight room and exercise rooms the MAC offers leave a lot to be desired. Space is inadequate and poorly utilized.

Ventilation is the envy of tombs everywhere. The only humans who genuinely enjoy the MAC are anthropologists who study how people interact under oppressive and crowded conditions. Those students who choose to work out at Wellbridge obviously have no interest in anthropology. They care little about the fascinating cave drawings that have been discovered in Southern France. These pictures surprise us with their bold use of line, their detail and realism. The curious among us will wonder, Who were these ancient people? Where did they come from? How did they live? Why, 30,000 years ago, did they suddnely disappear, leaving behind five or six Nautilus machines in the basement of the Malkin Athletic Center cave?

"The undergraduates are remarkably tolerant with what we have," says Associate Director of Athletics John Wentzell. I do not think tolerance has ever opened this institution's coffers. I encourage all students who feel that Harvard's physical fitness facilities need a facelift to write to the administration, the athletic department--to anyone they can think of. Also, to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68. Harvard doesn't have to compete with the Charles Hotel's health club, but it should provide facilities almost on par with universities of similar size and considerably smaller piles of money. --Jesse G. Lichtenstein '98