Divinity Faculty Members Demand Full Inquiry into Presidio 27 Case

Four-fifths of the Divinity School faculty have signed a petition calling for an investigation of the circumstances in which 27 men were charged with mutiny at the San Francisco Presidio Stockade on Oct. 14, 1968.

Krister Stendahl, dean of the Faculty at the Divinity School, said yesterday that he has "the obvious feeling that the situation is completely outrageous." Stendahl, who signed the statement entitled "Declaration of Outrage and a Call to Action," said he was "gratified by the response given the petition, considering that it was circulated very little."

The statement of the 19 faculty members and a similar petition signed by 100 divinity students have been sent to Senators Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass.) and Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.) to be forwarded to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Awareness

Randy S. Frederickson, a first-year Divinity student, circulated the petitions, which he termed "an attempt to make the other areas of government aware that something has gone wrong."

The petition declares "profound concern and passionate revulsion at the barbaric conditions reported to exist at the Presidio Stockade." The statement calls for all citizens" and veterans' groups to demand a full investigation by the President and Congress of the events of October 14, and of conditions in the stockade.

It also requested that the Department of the Army 'recognize the context of injustice in which the remaining prisoners charged with mutiny will be tried and to recognize that any severe sentences such ad the ones already handed down are both immoral and unjust."