Life in Cambridge Went On Without You

Cambridge had a crowded but calm and mostly uneventful summer. Shoppers, street people and summer students filled the Square to a greater extent than last summer, but there was none of the tension that resulted in noting two years ago. Politics, it seemed was reserved for Miami Beach.

Forbes Plaza was once again filled with panhandlers and idle passerby, but this year open air commercial activity swelled to new heights. Piles of halter tops, rows of sandals, and racks of baubles clogged the front of Holyoke Center's arcade. And an umbrellaed bright yellow hot dog cart from the Underdog peddled franks and sauerkraut to Cambridge's hungry.

Even the police remained restrained and apparently content to stroll away the summer's heat. There were no large scale arrests that characterized previous summers, and little of the keep-em moving tactics that annoyed people in the past when they just felt like stopping and watching the world go by.

The wheels of the University continued turning as they have for 336 years, but even they moved in a slow gear to avoid the sweat of summer.

Moynihan May Move Up

While the Republican Convention in Miami Beach was confidently renominating Richard Nixon for another four years in office, rumors were spreading back to Boston that Daniel P. Moynihan would continue to hang onto his coattails.

The Boston Globe reported August 17 that Nixon would appoint Moynihas, professor of Education and Urban Politics and a former Nixon advisor, as bead of an advisory board to the newly-created National Institute of Education.

Reached the next day in New York, Moynihan would not tell The Crimson whether he had been approached for the post.

However, he said he knew which people were under consideration to be on the 15 member advisory board and added: "You know perfectly well I'm on the list."

But Moynihan said that even if he accepted a position on the board he would not be leaving Harvard since "these things only meet every three months."

More Power for Harvard?

The University moved close this summer to expanding its interests further beyond the scope of providing education. In August, it reached the final stages of negotiations for moving into the electric power industry.

Harvard may built, at a cost of $50 million, the country's largest noncommercial power plant.

The plant would serve the Medical School and six affiliated hospitals at a projected savings of $5 million a year.

The project has been under discussion for several years, and although the University has spent $250,000 on feasibility studies, the Corporation still has not given its final approval to the plan.

Stephen S. J. Hall, vice president for Administration, said he expects further action this winter.

The mammoth 35-story plant would cover a two-block area and provide steam, electricity and chilled water for air conditioning at roughly half the price currently charged by Boston Edison.

Mass Hall Decisions

Just as the summer began, less than a week after the last Spring term exams, the Committee on Rights and Responsibilities (CRR) came to a decision on two controversial cases.

On June 7 the CRR and two other University disciplinary bodies ruled that none of the 34 black students who participated in the week-long occupation of Massachusetts Hall last April will be required to withdraw from the University.

In simultaneous announcements, the CRR and the disciplinary committees of the Law School and the Divinity School said that special circumstances surrounding the occupation ruled out strong punishment.

The 34 students had occupied Mass Hall from April 20 to April 26 to protest the University's decision to retain its 700,000 shares of Gulf Oil Corporation Stock. The students had demanded that Harvard sell the shares because of Gulf's involvement in the Portuguese colony of Angola.

The CRR-which decided the cases of the 32 occupiers studying under the Faculty of Arts and Sciences--unanimously voted to give suspended requirements to withdraw for one term to all of the students. The only effect of the sanction is to give each of the students a record of disciplinary action, thus making stronger penalties more likely in the event of future offenses.

The CRR decided against a tougher sanction even though it unanimously ruled that the occupation was a violation of the Resolution on Rights and Responsibilities. "Building occupation has been deemed and still remains an unacceptable form of protest," the decision said.

However, the CRR cited several special circumstances--including the non-violent nature of the occupation and the lack of previous disciplinary records for any of the students--which it said prompted the decision of the committee against more severe punishment.

Responding to the decision two days later, President Bok said that "a" number of problems" have arisen because of the mildness of the punishments.

Although Bok did not clearly condemn the decision, he said: "A particularly serious problem is whether the orderly functioning of the University is adequately protected by a apparent precedent that building seizures, however prolonged, will not result in substantial disciplinary action if no violence to persons or property occurs and the persons involved have no prior disciplinary record."

Bok concluded by calling for a "careful consideration by the University's faculties" of the disciplinary problems.

In a veritable whirlwind of activity, the CRR came to another decision a week later. This time the decision was more severe.

The committee voted to require Bonnie E. Blustein '72, a long-time SDS member, to withdraw from the University three days before she was scheduled to graduate.

Blustein, who was ordered to withdraw for one year, was found guilty of violating the Resolution on Rights and Responsibilities by participating in a six-hour occupation of the Government Department's offices in the Littauer Center on May 10.

The CRR explained the harshness of the decision against Blustein was because of her prior disciplinary record.

Heimert Studies Grads

The graduate students took vacations from their research, teaching and protest this summer, but the University didn't forget them or the controversy they stirred last Spring over Staff Teaching Scholarships.

A six-member task force of professors, headed by Alan E. Heimert '49, Cabot Professor of American Literature, early in August began a re-examination of the role of teaching during graduate study.

Heimert said the committee would study the relationship between reaching and doctoral work "to find a sound educational basis for the use of teaching fellows:" A separate committee was established later in the month to examine the financial issues.

His task force will send its report to a larger investigating commission to be established this Fall. The Fall commission was mandated by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences last Spring after the Graduate Student--Teaching Fellow Union protest.

Although the Fall commission will include graduate students, the summer task forces did not. "I guess the administration has decided it can afford to do this work without us," commented Dov Ospovat, a member of the Steering committee of the' Union.

But Barbara Herman, another, Steering Committee member, said she doubted that union members would have worked with the task force even if asked.

"That's not the relationship we were interested in--gathering information for someone else's investigation," she said. "The object was to start fresh with the graduate students and find out what the problems are."

Popkin Still Waiting

The case of Samuel L. Popkin, assistant professor of Government, continued to drag on this summer, and looked no closer to conclusion in September than it did at school's closing last June.

Popkin is appealing a contempt of court citation for refusing to answer certain questions before a Boston Federal Grand Jury investigating the Pentagon Papers case.

The bulk of the summer's case revolved around a request by Popkin's attorneys that the Justice Department officially disclose the details of any wiretapping or electronic surveillance of Popkin.

The Justice Department has yet to respond to a court order requiring it to produce evidence that it has not tapped Popkin's telephone.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Warren P. Reese, the chief prosecutor in the Boston investigation, issued a curt "no comment" when asked what was taking so much time.

"We are not allowed to answer any questions on the investigation of the Pentagon Papers." Reese said.

Radcliffe Gets Richer

University presidents have been lamenting about hard financial times for several years, but this year alumni seem to have responded to the cry.

The nine University gift funds together received more money last year than ever before and three of the nine set individual records. Donations to Radcliffe showed the most spectacular increase--a 50 per cent jump over last year's figure. Harvard College and the Law School Funds also received record donation.

Private benefactors altogether gave $7,441,238 to the University funds--topping last year's record cache by over $850,000.

Yet in spite of record-breaking donations in 1971, University income fell $1.4 million short of expenses, and David W. Davis, consultant in the Office of the Financial Vice President predicted this year's record donations would not balance this year's budget either.

House Films Endangered

Students looking forward to returning to Harvard's usual weekend choice of ten $1 film favorites may find movie pickings slimmer and more expensive this Fall.

The University Council this summer canceled the student-run University Film Society's summer series of popular classics, setting a precedent which may result in a drastic change in this Fall's House film showings.

The cancellation came less than two weeks after the University had approved the entire 27-film series, to be shown in Emerson Hall.

The films were cancelled because they violated an agreement made last Spring between some of the Harvard student film society and local theatres. That agreement limited student films to intellectual and esoteric movies which would not compete with local theater shows.

However, the agreement was only tentative and not binding. Several film societies--each as the Quincy Cinema Guild and films Across the River which show popular classic--did not even participate in drawing up the guidelines.

The real reason behind the series' sudden death may have been threats from local theatre proprietors that a continuation of a 99-cent. House series, which competed with the theatres' 52 shown, may exempt status.

Buildings which are used solely for educational purposes are exempted from property tax Hats by Massachusetts law James A. Sharaf, attorney is the Officer of the General Counsel, admitted July 10 that a popular film series shown on University property posed "Hats to the University."

The University made its decision after meeting with representatives of the Orson Welles, Harvard Squares Central Square and Brattle theatres.

Marshall Cohen, dean of the Summer School, explained: "Although the guidelines the not policy or legislation, we thought they were important enough for those of us at the Summer School not to violate them."

CHUL must approve the film guidelines before they become binding, but the same pressures which killed the summer series may limit this Fall's House film dare.

Alsop Scores Peretz

Another faculty member drew fire this summer, but the assailant was not the Government.

This time it was columnist Joseph Alsop who labelled South House Master Martin M. Peretz as a symbol of the major money sources behind the presidential campaign of Senator George McGovern.

In a sharply worded, nationally syndicated column that appeared the week of August 20, Alsop said that McGovern's campaign coffers were filled to the point of bulging with "Peretz money"--a term he coined for funds coming from rich, leftleaning McGovern supporters who, according to Alsop, "had nothing to do with normal Democratic money".

Alsop said that "Peretz money"--and not the thousands of small contributions that McGovern staffers cite--has been the principal source of financing in the Democratic presidential drive.

Peretz called the column "one of the silliest things I've ever seen." Peretz said the article had nothing substantial to say, and was simply a reiteration of Alsop's claim that the Democratic Party is about to be taken over by left-wing irregulars.

"It seems he would prefer that the Democratic Party be funded by Government contractors," Peretz said.

Transfer Rate Slides

Coeducational gains were prospective transfer students' losses, it was learned this summer. Harvard and Radcliffe reduced the number of transfer students accepted by 60 per cent in order to compensate for increases in the number of freshman women.

Harvard accepted 16 transfer students, less than 2 per cent of approximately 1100 applicants. Radcliffe took 27 transfers, 3 per cent of 640 applicants. In 1971, each college admitted 49 transfers--9 per cent of the 530 Radcliffe and 6 per cent of the 900 Harvard applicants.

The reduction was necessary because of the housing squeeze created by President Bok's decision improve the coed ratio by increasing the size of the freshman class by about 100--mostly women--rather than by significantly cutting the number of men.

Harvard and Radcliffe admissions offices agreed that the small transfer quote this year toughened admission standards