M.I.T. Wins Court Order Against NAC Disruptions; Occupation Isn't Cancelled

M.I.T. president Howard W. Johnson yesterday morning obtained a temporary restraining order against the radical November Action Coalition (NAC), which is planning to occupy offices at M.I.T. this afternoon.

The order, effective until Friday morning, forbids the NAC from "employing force or violence.... damaging or defacing facilities.... converting documents to their own use.... congregating within buildings to disrupt or interfere with normal functions conducted by M.I.T.,... [and] inciting or counseling others to do any of these acts."

The Middlesex County Superior Court addressed the order to 14 NAC members- 11 of them now or once M.I.T. students-and to "the November Action Coalition, and all those acting in concert with them." Copies of the order have been posted on the M.I.T. administration building for the NAC to see today.

John G. Flym, attorney for the NAC, will contest the validity of the restraining order at 10 a.m. today in the Superior Court. He will base his arguments, he said last night, on the vague terms in which the defendants are named and on Johnson's alleged failure to prove that the order is necessary to prevent irreparable harm and is the only legal remedy available-prerequisites for a restraining order.

Center Closed

M.I.T.'s Center for International Studies (CIS), one of the original targets for today's demonstration, announced last night that it will be closed today. As a result of the closure-called "a victory" by an NAC spokesman-the occupation will be confined to M.I.T.'s administration building.

If the restraining order is upheld in court this morning. M.I.T. officers can ask the court in the afternoon to send police to arrest demonstrators for contempt of court. Johnson said yesterday that only he would call for police, after receiving advice from M.I.T. faculty members and students who will be on hand to watch for possible violations of the court order.

No arrests will be made today, Johnson added, except "in very aggrieved cases."Only campus police will be present at the beginning of the afternoon, he said, "A mill-in action will be permitted so long as free passage is not blocked."

The M.I.T. faculty voted, 344 to 43, at a special meeting yesterday morning to endorse Johnson's action after the fact. The effect of the restraining order, according to Johnson, "should be to make our position clearer and to reduce the possibility of a situation which we would have to oppose by force."

James Q. Wilson, professor of Government at Harvard and chairman of the Committeeon Rights and Responsibilities, said last night he does not know of any Harvard plan to discipline students involved in today's disruption. Harvard students, however, are included in the restraining order.

Today's action will begin with a noon rally on M.I.T.'s Kresge Plaza. Harvard's November Action Committee will rally at 11 a.m. in Mem Church before joining the rest of the Coalition at M.I.T. The NAC will occupy selected offices in the M.I.T. administration building in the afternoon and will halt work in them.

Johnson, provost Jerome B. Wiesner, and M.I.T. Corporation head James R. Killian are among those whose offices will be occupied. If they are present, the NAC spokesman said, they will be told to leave. And if they refuse, they will be evicted bodily, "unless doing so would start a pitched battle."

The NAC is demanding the termination of seven war-related projects at M.I.T.- the Cambridge Project, the Com-Com Project, the International Communism Project, and research on the ABM, MIRV, the Moving Target Indicator radar system, and a stabilization system for helicopters.

The broader goal of the M.I.T. actions, the spokesman said, is "to help raise the cost of the Vietnam War to M.I.T. and to the federal government which runs it."

Student Center Tonight

After the administration building occupation the NAC will march to M.I.T.'s student center, where they will stay all night tonight. They may demonstrate against M.I.T. laboratories subcontracted by General Electric before they reach the center.

A meeting about midnight in the student center will decide on actions for tomorrow. The most likely possibility is a militant picket line around one or two of M.I.T.'s Instrumentation Labs, beginning at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. The restraining order does not cover the off-campus I-Labs.

The M.I.T. faculty is holding a special meeting at 9:30 a.m. today in Kresge Auditorium. The Science Action Coordinating Committee (SACC), which supports NAC's demands but not its tactics, has scheduled a mass meeting for 10 a.m. in the student center. A counter-rally to NAC's of M.I.T. faculty and students will begin at noon outside the center.