Student stirs
Sir: It would be a pity to disturb Mr Croft's drinking, fornicating or his appalling puns (Let- ters, 23 May), but participation, whether he likes it or not, is here to stay.
The antique and antiquity may be attractive in the rarefied heights of Oxford (and also prove a good drawing point for American tourists), but reality demands something else. Students should be treated as mature members of an academic community not as spoilt puppets dangling in the light of a Waugh-like haze.
Of course, the militants' answer, that of the General Assembly, is unacceptable—unwieldy, undemocratic and grossly wasteful of every- body's time. There are topics such as in the hir- ing of staff and the marking of exams that students are just not competent to involve them- selves in. Student representation has workectsuc- cessfully in a number of universities both in America and Britain and has the support of most Vice-Chancellors and students.
As to the sogginess of this particular liberal- ism or the merits of the Cambridge scrum, it
depends whether Mr Croft was referring to previous years hr to the future. As I suspect does most of his outdated argument. Student participation should not be deserted because some are not interested or because it has been seen to fail in one university.
John Kirkaldy Cornbury Farm, West Lavington, Devizes, Wilts
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