NROTC Ups Service Term

Naval Reserve students at the College yesterday either signed up for longer service than they had originally intended or applied for release from the service. Confronted with this choice, five of the 300 men in the NROTC have already started proceedings to be separated from it.

The choice between staying in the reserve or giving up the draft-exempt status was forced upon NROTC men by a new directive from the Navy Department. The directive put into effect one of the provisions of the Universal Military Training and Service Act which was passed by Congress last June.

NROTC students at Harvard and other colleges are of two classifications--regular and contract. Until yesterday the regulars had their way paid through college by the Navy in return for serving a maximum of two years in the Navy after graduation.

Students who entered college with the understanding that they would serve two years had to agree yesterday to serve a maximum of three years a minimum of 29 months. The old minimum was 17 months.

Contract students are those who enter the NROTC with the agreement that they will serve a maximum of two years in the active reserve after graduation. The new agreement that contract students could either sign or not yesterday requires that they remain in an active unit or reserve unit for at least eight years after graduation.

Naval Students Angry

Naval students at the College yesterday were angry but resigned over their increased term of service. They had all signed up for periods less than the ones they will now have to last out and were bitter about what one of them called, "An obvious breach of contract."

The Universal Military Training act also applies to all other military reserves. Colonel Charles P. Summerall, head of the College's ROTC, said yesterday that the order has not yet come down in regard to the Army reserve program.