One can only conclude that this recent concern for student opinions is a shabby ploy to mollify potential outrage. But there is another, more honest way to mollify student outrage. Fund the whole renovations. Rather than set Cabot against North in competition for the remaining funds, University Hall could come up with the cash to meet its commitment.

UNIVERSITY administrators have a habit of pleading poverty, a reflexive response to every request. But this doesn't keep Harvard from coming up with money when it wants to. It's just a matter of priorities.

For instance, perennial student protest over the University's investments in companies doing business in South Africa led President Derek C. Bok to set aside $1 million this year for internships and related activities.

But do students have to risk expulsion and declare virtual war on Harvard to be given a high priority? The University drives students to adopt extreme tactics, which it then claims to abhor, by blocking all alternative routes. Rational arguments fall on deaf ears. Undergraduate Council studies take light-years to reach wishy-washy conclusions. Sporadic demonstrations may elicit a statement of support, but only self-destructive take-overs and the like really get high-priority status.

So what will it take for the Quadrangle to get its fair share of renovations? One week the students could commandeer a shuttle bus; the next week Hilles; and finally, during reading period, a coordinated attack on the Quadrangle kitchens. Amid the shattering plastic and shrieks of Quaddish fervor, two hisses of rustling paper will rise to a crescendo and drown out the actual event.

The one sound is the Committee on Rights and Responsibilities, convening and shuffling its eyewitness testimony. The other is Harvard's bankers, counting out at last the dollar bills long ago promised for Quadrangle renovations.

The author is a member of the North House Renovations Committee.