Pusey Asks Clearer T.V. Policy

President Pusey said yesterday the University must "move toward a more sharply defined policy" regarding television coverage of events held in Harvard buildings.

Pusey's statement was prompted by reactions to his refusal to permit WGBH-TV to cover last Thursday's teach-in on the draft and the war.

Pusey said that WGBH violated longstanding Harvard policy by not seeking official permission for a telecast from Lowell Lecture Hall.

Harvard always allows the CRIMSON and WHRB to cover events which have the purpose of "the exchange of information within the University," Pusey said. But when the occasion comes up for such an event to "go outside the University, that's a special situation and requires special permission."

Pusey's statements seemed to contradict the original official explanation of the T.V. ban. William Bentinck-Smith, assistant to the President, said last week that it was long-standing Harvard policy not to allow coverage of "non-University sponsored events."

Individual Merits

In the past, each case has been judged on its individual merits, Pusey said. Several other teach-ins--including a three-day China meeting last April--have been carried by WGBH.

There have been several critical reactions to the Bentinck-Smith explanation; they may be silenced by Pusey's statement. In a resolution passed Monday night, the Harvard-Radcliffe Policy Committee attacked the University's ban as "incomprehensible and reprehensible."

The resolution caled Bentinck-Smith's "justification" both irrelevant and false." The HPC, which called last week's teach-in "an important educational experience for those who were able to attend," said that "teach-ins and other meetings have been televised from Lowell on several occasions in the past."

The statement continued: "We recommend that the Student-Faculty Advisory Committee or some other appropriate University body act quickly to ensure that subtle censorship of this kind does not occur again at Harvard.

Hoffmann

Stanley H. Hoffmann, professor of Government, who is a member of the Student-Faculty Advisory Council, said last night that the Council would consider the issue of broadcasts of events like last week's teach-in. "We are going to examine this whole question," he asaid.

Pusey said yesterday that the question of a general policy on coverage will be brought up at a future meeting of the Council of Deans.