BU Student Officers Strike to Protest University Campus Military Recruiting

Boston University's student government officers will occupy Marsh Chapel and begin a hunger strike at 9 a.m. today in an effort to prevent military recruitment on campus.

The protest is aimed against the Hebert Amendment proposed in Congress this fall, which would deny federal aid to private universities who refuse to allow military recruiters on their campuses, and the failure of the B.U. administration to recognize a recent student referendum which rejected campus recruiting by two to one.

The referendum was the most recent action in the B.U. anti-military moratorium which began last spring with a demonstration protesting the presence of Marine Corps recruiters at the Office of Career Planning and Placement.

Joseph Cuozzo, B.U. student body president, said yesterday that 17 student officers representing every school within the university are ready for a confrontation with University police when they take over Marsh Chapel this morning. "We won't know until then how much student support we will receive," he said.

"We want letters of endorsement from other schools in the Boston area, because the Hebert amendment is a denial of academic freedom," Cuozzo said. "We personally feel that government aid and contracts should not be made for political seasons."

"The strike sounds like it wouldn't do anybody any harm," Steve Trachtenberg, B.U. dean of students said yesterday.

Cuozzo said that the hunger strike will continue until Thursday.