Why Were Friends Dropped?

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

We feel the Harvard-Radcliffe Combined Charities has been done an injustice by your front-page article of Oct. 28. The headline, "Charities Drive Excludes ASFC" makes us sound like vindictive bureaucrats by misrepresenting the process by which charities are selected. Buy stating simply that "AFSC...was recommended by Combined Charities last year," you imply that the recommended list remains the same from year to year, unless we can somehow "build a case" against one of the charities. No charity is being recommended because it was recommended last year. The fact that ASFC is not being recommended this year does not mean it has somehow fallen from grace--we certainly recognize the value of the program ASFC is conducting, and will be pleased to have Harvard and Radcliffe students contribute to it again this year.

The Research Committee did not wish to express University endorsement of the programs of religious or political groups. This is not to say such groups do not carry on admirable work. We continually emphasize that ANY charity a student chooses may receive his (or her) contribution through the Drive. We have not taken it upon ourselves to judge charities worthy or unworthy, nor have we decided to choose for others the charities which will receive their donations. We are simply "recommending" and "suggesting" charities with which students may be unfamiliar.

One student has already expressed her intention to contribute nothing to the Drive because of our reputed treatment of the American Friends Service Committee--and if your article were accurate, she would certainly be justified. Countless other students may have a similarly distorted notion of our process of selection by reading that a commendable organization was "dropped" from last year's list. We want Harvard and Radcliffe students to know that we are aware of the arbitrary nature of our decision, and that we therefore do not claim that any charity not recommended by us is untrustworthy. Benjamin F. Stapleton, III '65   Chairman, HRCC Drive   Charles M. Stern '65   Vice Chairman for Research