Law School Survey Indicates Students Want Nixon to Resign

Eighty-six per cent of the 454 Law School students participating in a poll Monday favor the resignation of President Nixon. The results were released yesterday.

The poll also revealed that 89 per cent support impeaching the president. Of these, 90 per cent said that conviction should follow impeachment proceedings. Only 12 per cent of the Law School students refused to pass judgment on the president.

One Quarter Polled

The Harvard Law Record conducted the survey. Those who participated represent 25 per cent of the total Law School enrollment.

In response to another question, 66 per cent said that a president should be impeached for "high crimes and misdemeanors only." Less than one per cent felt that a president should be impeached for "political reasons only." The remaining 33 per cent said that a president could be impeached for both political reasons and high crimes and misdemeanors.

Of the 340 students who said that they had voted for George McGovern in 1972, 329, or 97 per cent, favored Nixon's impeachment. Twenty-one of the 40 people who had voted for Nixon also agreed he should be impeached.

Reasons given for impeaching Nixon included treason, bribery, violations of the public trust and incompetence. Some respondents suggested that Nixon's lawyers be cited for contempt or disbarred.

Among the many comments recorded in the poll was one asserting that "Nixon should be hung." One student proposed as a "compromise solution" between resignation and impeachment that Nixon "should drop dead."

Another student, faced with a choice between Nixon and Vice President Gerald Ford, concluded, "Better a crook than a clown."

Some criticized the tendency to prejudge Nixon. One first-year student said "any law student worth his moral salt should hold to the belief that one is innocent until proven guilty."