Politics Determine Next Berkeley Move

The politics of the California Senate race has given the Berkeley crisis of the last week much greater political significance than previous confrontations on the highly-politicized University of California campus.

Last week's events escalated the incident over Eldridge Cleaver's course to the level that many liberal Californians have feared for several weeks now. The future of the University and the outcome of the Cranston-Rafferty Senatorial battle are now at stake.

50 Suspended

After several weeks of sparring, the three major forces--the administration, the radical students, and the politicians--joined in battle last Thursday. The administration cleared Moses Hall of the students who had sat-in during the night. Berkeley Chancellor Roger Heynes suspended the 50 people who participated and called for their expulsion.

In many observers' minds the Moses sit-in didn't warrant such a stern response. The reasons behind Heynes' apparent over-reaction become understandable only in the context of the underlying forces acting upon him:

* The Moses demonstrators represented much of the Berkeley SDS leadership. Expulsion offered Heynes a good chance to remove them from the campus before the situation got worse.

* A minor student take-over at the conservative Santa Barbara University of California campus October 10 had prompted a secret threat by Ronald Reagan to settle the dispute by bringing in the National Guard if the Administration did not remove the demonstrators within a short time. By nightfall the Santa Barbara administrators had agreed to the small militant band's requests. The students left the administration building shaking their heads in disbelief at the administration's acquiescence.

Through unconfirmed, it is reported that Reagan also threatened to use the National Guard in dealing with the Berkeley incident. The Governor's threat becomes particularly ominous in the context of the California Senatorial battle now in its final stages. NEWS ANALYSIS

Max Rafferty, the ultra-conservative Republican nominee and a strong "law and order" candidate, would be helped immeasurably in his lagging campaign with an efficient settlement of university disorders by the National Guard. Not only would the crisis vindicate his more extreme anti-civil libertarian pronouncements--now under heavy attack from liberal republicans--but it would place his opponent, Alan Cranston, in an extremely difficult position.

"Lesser of Two Evils"

Cranston's wide lead over Rafferty is founded on an anti-Rafferty coalition of liberals and moderates. Cranston is only a lackluster "lesser of two evils" in the Senate race. A raging Berkeley crisis would force him to take a stand on "law and order" which would probably put him too far to the right for enraged California liberals to support him.

Heynes also faced pressure from the state legislature which would like to take control of the State university system from the regents. Though Heynes is barred by the present constitution from interfering with the universities, a new constitution is in the planning stages.

The public outery in the wake of the present Berkeley crisis may be large enough to permit the legislators to delegate more control over the universities to themselves through the new constitution.

Witch-hunts

Many fear that this move would eliminate the political buffer--the regents--which has separated students and politicians up to this time. The ensuring witch-hunts would probably encourage faculty to leave and seriously curtail academic freedom. It would most certainly contribute to the growing bad reputation that Berkeley has accured as a result of previous interference by the politicians.

With these pressures and issues hanging in the balance, the Berkeley crisis now enters its second crucial week.