Faculty Opinion on CD Not Needed, Pusey Says

President Pusey said yesterday that the Harvard Civil Defense Study Committee had been disbanded without making its planned final report because "there is no point" for further Faculty discussion now of civil defense preparations at the University.

The committee's preliminary report, recommending a modest fallout shelter program at Harvard, gave the Administration "what we wanted," Pusey noted. But federal, state, and local civil defense plans are so indefinite, he explained, that a final report and a continuing Faculty civil defense committee would not be useful "at this stage of the game."

In its preliminary statement the study committee, chaired by Dean Harvey Brooks of the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics, asked for a continuing committee "in order that all parts of the University will be informed of civil defense plans and activities, and so that all can contribute from their specialized knowledge and resources."

Instead, Pusey stated, the Corporation has decided to make civil defense planning an "administrative responsibility" by appointing a full-time civil defense officer. The officer's primary task will be to pay attention to government civil defense programs and study possible Harvard responses to them. Because government plans are uncertain, Pusey said, the University could not come out with a clear-cut policy decision on civil defense preparations now.

The Brooks panel had suggested that "Harvard should proceed with the planning and execution of its own moderate, long-term civil defense program, without being governed by the possible fluctuations of any Federal or local civil defense program."

"We Never Anticipate"

If civil defense authorities ask Harvard to transform its basements into shelters this summer, Pusey said, "we will make up our minds then" on the basis of the specific action requested. "We never anticipate," he added.

Pusey acknowledged that Harvard took a first step toward involvement with the federal civil defense program in allowing a survey of the University's fallout shelter capabilities by Lockwood-Greene, a Boston engineering firm under contract to the Army Corps of Engineers.

However, he said permission was granted in the Buildings and Grounds Department without prior knowledge by senior Administration officers. It did not commit the University to cooperate further, he emphasized.