SDS Member Talks at Ceremonies

Normal Commencement proceedings were disrupted this morning after President Pusey let an SDS member speak at the ceremony.

Bruce C. Allen '69 who said he was one of the seniors suspended for occupying University Hall, spoke for nearly ten minutes until six Class Committee members and Class Marshals came to the stage and led him away.

About 150 students--between 50 and 60 of them seniors--then marched out of the Tercentenary Theater, chanting "Smash ROT--No Expansion."

After the Commencement began normally with the procession, prayer, and anthem, Pusey took the microphone and said the SDS members had asked him several times for a chance to speak at the ceremony.

Pusey said that SDS members had not tried out for normal Commencement pats, and that representatives of SDS had been able to give addresses at Class Day and other activities this week.

But members of the senior class committee, Pusey said, had come to him "with an urgent plea" to let SDS spokesmen appear on the stage. "Assuming that the class marshals represented the will of the senior class," Pusey said he had accepted their request.

Allen wearing a suit and smoking a cigarette, then walked up to the stage. He began by "thanking the Administration for 'its gracious concession' ... in the context of throwing out 17 people for fighting against ROTC and expansion, letting one person talk is a hollow joke. I think they were afraid of our militancy."

There were a few cheers and more numerous boos from the crowd.

Allen then went into a long harangue explaining the SDS demands. He said that "ROTC must be smashed" because "it supports imperialist exploitation in Watts... and in Vietnam" and that the University's construction projects evicted people from their homes.

He also attacked several Harvard officials by name, saying that Pusey had "lied about expansion for the Hospitals Center" and that David Rockefeller and C. Douglas Dillon, president of the Board of Overseers, "need ROTC to protect their foreign investments."

As Allen accused Pusey of lying, many members of the crowd started booing and raising their arms in a thumbs down gesture. Douglas Hardin '69, first marshal of the class, walked to the stage and stood by Allen, and a minute later the other class committee members joined him and escorted Allen away.