Occupiers Remain in Univ. Hall; Administration Silent on Action

As of 4 a.m. this morning, University administrators had taken no action to clear University Hall of the 400 demonstrators who have occupied it since noon yesterday.

University officials--including President Pusey and Deans Ford and Glimp--conferred in emergency meetings yesterday afternoon and night, but announced no decision on plans to end the demonstration.

The Yard remained sealed last night, with University policemen admitting only freshmen with bursar's cards. The Yard will probably be closed today, and classes in Yard buildings will probably be cancelled.

A group of 150 Cambridge policemen who had massed at the Quincy Street fire station yesterday afternoon dispersed at 7:30 last night. Dean Glimp was in contact with the Cambridge police yesterday, but did not ask them to come onto the campus. Cambridge police officers said last night that they would not enter the Yard unless President Pusey specifically asked them to.

Some of the University officers normally stationed in University Hall have set up makeshift headquarters in other buildings. Several deans worked out of Pusey's house, and the Harvard New Office sent out news releases from an office in Holyoke Center.

Both Ford and Glimp said repeatedly yesterday that no decision had been reached at the meetings of several administrative committees about using police to clear University Hall. But at a meeting of "moderate" students at 9 p.m. in Weld Hall, Glimp said that the University could not "function very long" with the building occupied.

On his way to the meeting, Glimp said that simply letting the demonstrators stay in the building was "not a course of action without severe negative consequences." When universities take that approach--as the University of Chicago did in February--"people being acting on a weird sense of reality," Glimp said.

Pusey himself did not comment on future action. His only official statement was a refutation of the demonstrators' six demands--ranging from abolition of ROTC to ending alleged Harvard destruction of workers' homes.

Several officials in the Cambridge government said last night that they thought a raid was imminent. A university source said that Walter J. Sullivan, the mayor of Cambridge was enraged at the sit-in and expressed a desire to put on a helmet and lead a police charge himself.

Cambridge police remained "on alert" last night, but they decided to remove the 150 officers at the fire station when "things seemed to be simmering down."

About 20 officers from the University Police's 63-man force were on duty at the Yard gates last night. A police official said that two or three officers usually patrol the Yard at night.

Glimp spent much of last evening in the Yard talking with students. At the invitation of a coalition of "moderate" students from SFAC, HUC, and HRPC, Glimp went to a meeting in Weld Hall at 8:30.

At the meeting Glimp said he wanted to talk with the demonstration leaders, and one of the moderates said he could arrange a conference. Late last night, however, students in University Hall released a statement saying that they would talk with administrators only through public announcements.

The moderate group announced that it will sponsor a mass meeting at 10 a.m. today in Sanders Theatre to discuss the demonstration.

University policemen on duty at Yard gates last night said they had instructions to admit only reporters and freshmen with bursar's cards. Several people--especially girls--were seen climbing over the walls, and others said that police had let them in without checking their bursar's cards.

Dean Ford had originally ordered all the Yard gates locked except the one opposite the Union. But after students cut the chains on the Mass Ave gate, policemen went there and let students in and out.

In his only public statement yesterday, Pusey replied to the demonstrators' list of six demands. Pusey rejected student claims that the Corporation--which has been trying to work out new contracts to keep ROTC units on campus next year--was betraying the Faculty's vote to remove academic credit from ROTC. The Corporation "is working not to thwart the Faculty vote but to carry it out," he said.

Pusey said that two other demands--replacing ROTC scholarships with Harvard money and restoring scholarships to Paine Hall demonstrators--were under study by various Faculty committees. Pusey attacked the last three demands--concerning Harvard's rent and buildings policies--more sharply. He said that the rents in University-owned buildings were lower than those in the general market and that Harvard was not tearing down any homes on University Road or near the Medical School.

"Can anyone believe that the Harvard SDS demands are made seriously?" Pusey said. "How can one respond to allegations which have no basis in fact?"

Ford and Glimp also replied to the demand list. In response to the demand that Harvard abolish ROTC, Ford said, "I can't imagine the University breaking a contract unless it had a cause. That would be breaking the law." He added that the administration had already decide to "do all in our power" to replace ROTC scholarships, and dismissed the rent and building demands as beyond the Faculty's jurisdiction.

"I have such contempt for the confusion in the wording of these demands that I just can't respect them," Ford said.

The Executive Committee of Harvard's Young Republican Club put out a statement denouncing the demonstration. "The actions of SDS are a threat, and a grave one, to the continued existence of Harvard," the YR's said. "It is time that the Administration recognize this fact and act accordingly.