'84 Commencement Date Change Nixed

The University has refused to change the date of next year's Commencement, despite the request from 30 Jewish students that the June 7 ceremony will conflict with the Jewish holiday of Shavuos.

The ceremonies will take place as scheduled because Jewish law allows non-work on Shavuos and because of the logistical problems which altering Commencement would cause, Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54 said yesterday.

The Jewish students from undergraduate and graduate organizations asked the University for the change because they believe it is unfair to force Jewish participants to choose between important religious and secular commitments, said Jonathan O. Strauss, a Law student who organized the protest.

Shavuos, which is in either May or June annually, commemorates God's gift of the Ten Commandments to Moses.

"Commencement would never be scheduled on Christmas," Strauss said. "It ought not be scheduled on Shavuos." He added that as many as 25 people may skip next year's graduation.

While Strauss acknowledged that the group's request for a date change would cause logistical problems, he said that Harvard could avoid them by planning a full year in advance.

"Even if it doesn't violate the pickiest of legal points, it violates the spirit of the law and is offensive to those observing a holiday," Strauss added.

In explaining the decision, Steiner said a change in the graduation date would force the rescheduling of events like a Boston Pops concert and the ordering of 18,000 chairs, which have already been reserved for next year's ceremony.

Precedents

Supporters of the change, however, pointed to what they called sympathetic alterations at MIT, Yale, and Columbia.

Columbia spokesman Fred Knubel said yesterday that last April officials moved this year's May 18 commencement a day up to avoid a conflict with the holiday, which ran from the evening of the 17th to the evening of 19th. Besides "some inconvenience, there was nothing controversial" about the situation, he said.

MIT officials could not be reached for comment and a Yale official said that the university had never specifically changed their commencement for Shavuos but they "schedule around it."

One of the group's faculty supporters, Alan Dershowitz, professor of Law, said that even if the students lose the battle to change the date this year, it would be a victory for them if the University promises not to schedule any more Shavuos overlaps.

The possibility for no further scheduling conflicts, however, remains unclear. Registrar Margaret E. Law said yesterday that the Governing Boards have mandated that the school year begin on the third Monday of Sep- tember and Commencement occur on a Thursday 38 weeks later. Any exception to that to accommodate the Jewish holiday would need board approval, she said

Graduation in 1987, however will be later to allow for Harvard's 350th anniversary celebration