Student Here Refuses Oath At Induction

One Harvard draft-resister flunked his pre-induction physical at Boston Army Base last Friday, and another refused to sign the security oath.

Both the students--James R. Smith '70 and Robert G. Shetterly Jr. '69--lost their 2-S deferments after turning in their draft cards at the Arlington St. Church rally on October 16.

Smith said last night that the Army doctors had given him no reason for his failure to pass the physical. Shetterly said that after he refused to sign the oath U.S. Army Intelligence officials finger-printed him and questioned him for four hours. The officials threatened to investigate him, he said, and warned him that an investigation would ruin his career prospects in this country.

Prison

Shatterly said that if the Army chose to induct him immediately, despite his refusal to sign the oath, he would probably opt for either going to prison or leaving the country.

During the 40 minute bus ride from Cambridge City Hall to the Army Base, both students handed out Boston Draft Resistance Group leaflets and encouraged fellow draftees to resist induction. The mimeographed leaflets said, in summary, "LET'S NOT GO IN LIKE SHEEP." "The leaflet scared a lot of people away from us," said Shetterly.

"While I was waiting to take the physical I ran into at least eight or nine people who were planning to go to jail or to leave the country if inducted," Shetterly added. He said that three of these came from Harvard Graduate Schools--one from the School of Design, one from the Divinity School, and one from GSAS.

Both Smith and Shetterly objected last night to the orientation procedure at the Army Base. "There was a terrific amount of lying right at the beginning," said Shetterly. "They told us that once we were on the Base we didn't have any free speech, and that if we asked any questions about Vietnam or government policy they would hit us with immediate induction."