Votes To Maintain Traditional Policy of Non-Discrimination

The Board of Overseers yesterday afternoon unanimously decided that negroes should not be excluded from the Freshman Halls by reason of their color. Their decision came in the form of unanimous concurrence with a vote of the President and Fellows of the College (otherwise known as the Corporation) passed on March 26. The vote, which was presented to the Board of Overseers by the President and which received their unanimous approval is as follows:

"Voted that up to the capacity of the Freshman Halls all members of the Freshman Class shall reside and board in the Freshman Halls, except those who are permitted by the Dean of Harvard College to live elsewhere. In the application of this rule men of the white and colored races shall not be compelled to live and eat together, nor shall any man be excluded by reason of his color".

Officials Refuse to Comment

Officials of the University declined to comment on the vote, but it is understood that the decision means that men who would not live and eat toegther with negroes except under compulsion, will be allowed by the Dean of the College to live in some other building of the Freshman group.

The two important points decided by the vote are first that negroes will not be excluded from the Freshman Halls by reason of their color and second that men of the white and colored races will not be compelled to live and eat in the same dormitory if they object to members of the other race.