More Free Advice

A free-lance writer who calls himself the "Philosopher Available" has been circulating through the Yard and in the streets around the Square for the past three weeks.

The Cambridge sage, a 24-year old from St. Johns and Franklin and Marshall colleges, has launched a personal campaign to help Harvard students "relate more effectively to their environment."

The philosopher, Michael Bridge, has attracted attention by wearing a "Philosopher Available" sign on his jacket and by shouting "Free Thoughts for Intelligent Questions." Bridge says he engages at least 15 people in "meaningful conversations" every day.

"Harvard students must adopt a greater willingness to make fools of themselves," Bridge said last week. He feels that the personalities of most Harvard students do not grow because the students are afraid to "break out by doing something new."

Bridge's street work is an attempt to soothe students social fears. He says he hopes that when people see how easy it is for him to approach strangers, they will find it easier to meet people they don't know well.

"Human, warm actions like those encounters really bring me up. I hope that others can find the same joy in relating that I do," he said Thursday.

Showdown at the Coop

Dispute over the Coop's selling of General Electric products will come to a head at the Coop's Board of Directors meeting Wednesday, when Coop Director Allen K. Austin will propose a boycott.

On Saturday, Benjamin Ross '71. Boston coordinator for the Youth Committee to Support G.E. Workers, asked acting Coop manager Alexander Zavelle to take G.E. products off the Coop's shelves until the board meeting.

"The Coop has paid G.E. for the products now on stock and G.E. has in turn paid its workers for them." replied Zavelle. "This move would only hurt the Coop."

More than one thousand of the Coop's sixty thousand members have signed a petition supporting a boycott. Zavelle said of the petition "The Coop cannot take a minority position for a symbolic protest."

But Zavelle promised that he will not order any G.E. goods before Wednesday's meeting. Ross said YPSL will not picket the Coop until the meeting because-although the concession was "almost meaningless" -it "showed that at least they may be willing to respond to the wishes of their members."

The Philosopher Cop

A Harvard Ph.D. who specializes in moral philosophy is getting ready to put his theory into action as a policeman.

Roger Wertheimer, a moral philosopher who received his doctorate here last June, has taken a job as a rookie patrolman in the Mutnamah County, Oregon sheriff's office.

"I don't see my work being incompatible with my background," he said. "I fully intend to continue writing moral philosophy, and hope that this job will provide me with insight into human responses in extreme situations."

"A lot of things a patrolman does interest me and are tasks that would try the intelligence of any man," Wertheimer added.