Harvard Won't Seek Draft Deferments For Its Teaching Fellows, Dean Says

Harvard will not follow Cornell and several other universities in requesting occupational deferments for its teaching fellows, J. Petersen Elder, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said yesterday.

In a letter addressed to department chairmen, Elder said that such deferments will not be requested "unless the Selective Service changes its announced policy."

However, a statement defining the nature of a teaching fellowship at Harvard will be provided to assist students in their dealings with individual draft boards, Elder said. In the statement, he calls teaching fellowships "an integral part of our undergraduate instructional programs."

In his letter to the chairman, Elder did not refer to Cornell's policy, which was announced recently by W. Donald Cooke, dean of the graduate school at Cornell. Rather, Elder explained, the Harvard policy was based on Harvard's consideration of teaching fellows as students first, and teachers only secondarily.

This is the definition of teaching fellows which Harvard currently uses in dealings with the federal government, Elder explained; Harvard must certify that teaching fellows receiving grants from federal agencies are full-time students. Their teaching must be "limited in amount," Elder said. "I cannot take one stance toward some federal agencies and another toward the Department of Defense," he explained.

In a interview yesterday, Elder stressed that Harvard's situation differs considerably from Cornell's. The educational process at Harvard will not be particularly hard hit by the draft, Elder said. "If our faculty and remaining teaching fellows work a little harder, we can get by," he commented.

Cornell, however according to its graduate dean, "cannot function without" those teaching assistants who now face the draft. Cooke said last night that Cornell will ask local boards to grant II-A (occupational) deferments and will appeal if they are refused. "We don't know what will happen, but we are going to ask for them because we absolutely must have them," he said.

Cooke said that the larger universities would suffer most from the draft. "Purdue has 300 teaching assistants in chemistry alone. The draft would decimate their program. Smaller schools might get by, but larger ones like Cornell and Purdue will be seriously handicapped if they cannot get deferments for their teaching assistants," he said.

Dean Elder has long been opposed to draft exemptions for students in so-called "critical" disciplines, and said yesterday that occupational deferments for teaching fellows would have a similar effect. Most of the teaching fellows in need of the II-A deferments will be first or second-year graduate students, since third and fourth year students will keep their II-S deferments. As only in the natural sciences do first-year students generally teach, and thus even possibly qualify for the II-A, "I would be virtually arguing that some disciplines should be recognized as sanctuaries," Elder said. This, he feels, would be self-contradictory.

Other universities have not yet announced policies about seeking occupational deferments, but there are unconfirmed reports that M.I.T., Columbia, and Purdue have decided to follow Cornell's decision.