S D S Votes to Demand Rights Committee Re-Open Punishment Deliberations

The 24 students convicted of violating the Resolution on Rights and Responsibilities at the November 19 SDS sit-in at University Hall will present a collective appeal to the Committee this week to reopen their cases.

A meeting of about 100 students at Burr B last night approved the collective appeal as a means of "exposing the inequities of the Committee to the student body."

The 16 students who were required to leave the University and the eight who received admonitions, warnings or "suspended suspensions" received the letter informing them of their punishment today. They will present their appeal within the three-day time limit provided by the Committee.

The committee will re-open a case if it feels a student can present evidence contradicting its first findings. If the appeals are granted, the students will demand that the hearings be open, rather than closed as the original ones were.

John K, Chapman '69 and Jared Israel '67, fired from their jobs at Central Kitchens and Harkness Commons Kitchens respectively for participating in the sit-in, also plan to appeal their cases. Chamman and Israel were fired by the Personnel Office last week on the basis of charges filed by Dean May with the hearing panel which considered their cases. They will appeal through union grievance procedures.

The meeting last night also voted to stage a mass rally on January 9 to gather support for the demands that Harvard promote the painters' helpers and hire 20 per cent black and third world construction workers.

Some of the students who received disciplinary letters from the University were: admonished-John Husken '73; warned-Ginny Vogel '70, Barbara A. Slavin 72, Lafayete Ketton '73; required to withdraw until June, 1970-Judith R. Kaufman '70, John H. Dyck '72, Thomas R. Bailey '73, Elizabeth M. Harvey '71, required to withdraw until February, 1971-Emily T. Huntington '70; required to withdraw until February, 1971-Emily T. Huntington '70; required to withdraw until June, 1971-Cheyney C. Ryan '70; received suspended suspensions until June, 1971-Jonathan Levinson '73.

Speakers at the meeting charged that the Committee had used "phony categories" in deciding which students to punish "A few people were chosen randomly for doing things that everyone did," Miss Kaufman said.

Proposals to file charges with the Committee on Rights and Responsibilities against Dean May and other Administration officials for violating their responsibilities to the community in not meeting the demands were narrowly defeated. Proposals for a boycott of classes until Christmas vacation and an exam boycott were also voted down.