Math Professor to Stand Trial Today

A Harvard professor will stand trial today for his participation in a pro-busing demonstration held in South Boston on September 8.

Neal I. Koblitz '69, assistant professor of Mathematics, is one of 74 demonstrators who were arrested and jailed on charges of disturbing the peace.

The demonstration, which was organized by Committee Against Racism (CAR), was intended as "a peaceful demonstration to express visible pro-busing sentiment," Koblitz said yesterday.

Theodore H. Rosengarten, PhD '75 and winner of the 1975 National Book Award was also among the CAR demonstrators who were arrested.

The Boston Police stopped the demonstrators' bus caravan after only a few blocks and arrested two persons for motor vehicle violations and one for disorderly conduct. When the demonstrators neared South Boston High School the police again stopped them and arrested the remaining 74.

The demonstrators were arraigned that afternoon in Boston District Court.

Koblitz said that when the CAR group demanded to know the charges, the police replied that their presence "was tending to create a disturbance of the peace."

Meeting with police

CAR spokesman Terry Evans said yesterday that the group had met with Deputy Superintendent John Doyle of the Police Intelligence Division and earlier had decided on an acceptable site for the demonstration.

Doyle was in Washington and unavailable for comment yesterday. However, in a story in the Boston Evening Globe on September 8 Doyle denied having met Evans.

Koblitz said that the demonstrators tried to get close enough to the school so that students would see the pro-busing signs. He added that they observed the minimum distance from the school set by Federal Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr.

Koblitz said that CAR will attempt to bring a lawsuit against the Boston Police for harassment.

Koblitz said that CAR's interest in busing is "practical as well as moral."

"CAR is pro-education--and racism has been associated with bad schools. CAR doesn't feel that integration and education are contradictory terms," Koblitz said