Five Accused Law School Blacks Fait to Attend Punishment Hearings

None of the five black law students charged with participating in the December 5 and 11 OBU occupations of University Hall appeared at the hearings conducted by the Law School's Administrative Board yesterday and Tuesday.

The Ad Board-which handles academic as well as disciplinary matters-completed its proceedings yesterday after hearing the evidence against the students presented by William L. Bruce, vice-dean of the Law School.

The students refused to attend the hearings on the grounds that they were a form of "double jeopardy," In a statement released earlier in the week, the Harvard Black Law Students Association claimed the cases had already been heard at public hearings conducted by OBU January 13.

"We are members of OBU and OBU has had its trial," said Carl M. Basnett, a first-year law student and president of the HBLSA.

In addition. 52 black students signed a petition which requested that "whatever punishments are levied against the five black law students 'identified allegedly from pictures' relating to the... [OBU] takeovers" also be levied against them.

"Any of us could have been chosen," Basnett said last night "But they didn't want to touch law students at all so they narrowed it down to five,"

In a letter addressed to the 52 students Bruce said that he would not bring similar charges against them on the basis of the statements contained in their petition.

For the Ad Board-which consists of five faculty and three student representa-tives-these cases were "entirely new," said Stephen M. Bernardi, secretary of the Board.

"In the past the Administrative Board has handled more traditional offenses, such as plagiarism, cheating, or stealing from the Coop. This is the first time that law students have ever been involved in such things," he said.

The Board did give the students the option of having open hearings in which they and the Administration would have been allotted ten observers each, Basnett said.

"We didn't really consider the issue of public or private hearings," he said. "We had already had public hearings-at the OBU trial."

Basnett said he tried to make a statement before the Board but he was unable to find its meeting place so he submitted it to "its respective officers."

Of the five faculty members of the Board, only three sat on the Board for the hearings. Bruce presented the evidence-mostly pictures, films, and witnesses-and Derek C. Box, dean of the Law School, observed. Box is an ex-officio member and usually does not participate in the decisions.