Military Ponders ROTC Decision; Intent Is Unclear

Army, Navy, and Air Force officials, here and in Washington, appear confused about the meaning and ramifications of last week's Corporation decision on ROTC at Harvard.

As of yesterday afternoon, only the Air Force had received official notification from Harvard of the Corporation action. Theodore C. Marrs, deputy in charge of ROTC in the Secretary of the Air Force's office, said he had received a letter from someone at Harvard yesterday afternoon, but refused to reveal the contents.

Brig. Gen. C.P. Hannum, director of Army ROTC, said he saw nothing in President Pusey's letter to Dean Ford--which he has seen, but not officially received--to indicate that the Corporation has reached any decision to remove academic credit or Corporation appointments from ROTC.

Army Will Remain

"We plan to take no action until the Harvard Corporation officially comes to the Department of the Army with a distillation of what the letter implies," Hannum said. He added, however, that under any circumstances, Army ROTC will remain at Harvard.

"I am positive we will work it out," he said. "No question about it."

Colonel Robert H. Pell, commander of the Army ROTC unit at Harvard, said yesterday that he interpreted the Corporation decision as approving all the actions of the Faculty--i.e. recommending removal of academic credit for all ROTC courses and eliminating Corporation appointments for all instructors. He said he can't see how ROTC could remain without a Corporation appointment for the head of the unit.

"It's against the law," he said, "and I don't believe that Congress would be willing to change the law just to keep ROTC at Harvard." Nevertheless, he said, the Army remains "optimistic without elucidation."

Directors of all three ROTC units at Harvard said they plan no action until they are notified of changes by their respective services. All three are accepting and processing applications as in the past.

Major W. R. Folk, director of the Air Force ROTC unit at Harvard, said yesterday that applications for Air Force ROTC were coming in at about the same rate as last year. Pell, however, said that Army ROTC applications are down to one-third the rate of previous years.

Folk said that it is "within the realm of possibility" that Air Force ROTC could remain on campus, even without Corporation appointments for instructors