Rumored Riot Fizzles; Peace Reigns in Yard

It was just like any ordinary crowd filing out of any ordinary theater--at Rindge Tech, at Memorial Hall, and at Lowell Lecture Hall. All three places had been rumored to be focal points for another in the series of diploma riots.

The night was tense around the University, though, as students, cruising police cars, and over 20 photographers and reporters kept an alert eye for possible trouble. Every wail from a police siren brought reporters running, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary occurred. Firecrackers exploded sporadically and pointlessly.

A highlight in the evening for story-starved pressmen was the appearance of a nude visitor during the intermission of the Glee Club-RCS concert in Mem Hall. Dripping wet, the man wandered in muttering "everybody's dreaming, I'm not really here." Some 'Cliffes thought it was colorful.

Throughout the day, Deans, Masters, and senior tutors interviewed the hundreds of students who had lost Bursar's cards during the two demonstrations. Each offender was asked to write a statement on his participation in the riot. Dean Watson promised to "think carefully about each case" before taking disciplinary action.

Despite warnings of severe action, and despite tough police handling of the crowd at the end of the Thursday riot, rumors continually swept the College yesterday, hinting at an even greater demonstration. One story said a group of students had returned from Maryland with $250 worth of fireworks. By late afternoon word had gotten around that perhaps the fireworks were actually explosives, including 21 charges of TNT.

Several men called Radcliffe dorms for "riot dates."

Late in the afternoon the deans huddled with the Class Committee and Student Council representatives to discuss not prevention techniques. Dean Monro told the students that "channels of communication are always open--a reconsideration is always possible."

At 8:30 p.m., kick-off time for previous demonstrations, the Yard was deathly silent. Police guarded every exit and Dean Monro paced around Widener, watching for possible instigators.

Shortly after 8 p.m. Elliot S. Gershon '61 delivered a short talk on the back steps of Widener in Aramaic extolling the virtues of printing diplomas in ancient Hebrew. Six students listened fascinated.