Dean Apologizes for Shantytown in Yard

In a letter released yesterday, the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences expressed his regret that the students who built the Yard shanties have failed to respect the right of others in the University community by refusing to remove the makeshift structures before Commencement.

Writing to students, parents and alumni involved in Commencement ceremonies, Dean A. Michael Spence reiterated that he will not order the forceful removal of the shanties by Thursday, but added that he believes his administration may have made a mistake by not setting a limit on the duration of such protest activity.

Spence also wrote he was reluctant to initiate any attempt to dismantle the shanties against the will of the protesters lest the administration be accused of failing to respect the right of demonstration. He said such an action might also risk "a more significant disruption of Commencement ceremonies" than allowing the structures to remain.

He said he allowed the shanties to remain up through the spring as an expression of "mutual respect," but said, "I am forced to admit that the respecting of rights has been somewhat one-sided, that a purely voluntary system of balancing rights does not seem feasible, and what might be regarded as an experiment has not been entirely successful."

"Some of you [students, parents, alumni] might disagree with this or other decisions we have taken; however, I trust that you will understand that we have attempted throughout to abide by important principles that ought to guide the conduct of affairs in a university," he wrote.

About two weeks ago Spence sent a letter to the South African Solidarity Committee (SASC), which orchestrated the building of the shantytown in April, requesting that they remove the shanties "within a few days."

SASC members have continually said that they would remove the structures only when the University meets a list of demands, including total divestment of its $416 million in companies which do business in South Africa. In negotiation meetings with administrators last week, they also refused to move the shanties to an area which is not used for Commencement activities.

At a meeting last night, divestment activists said they were debating whether toremove the shanties a few days after Commencementbecause they said they may not have a sufficientnumber of people to staff them throughout thesummer. But they remained adamant that thestructures would remain up through Commencement.

SASC's attitude has angered some member of theClass of '86. one-quarter of whom signed apetition asking SASC to dismantle the shanties sothat Commencement activities would not bedisrupted or blotched.

Spence said that in the future the Universitymay adopt a new policy for dealing with protestsof this sort so that similar protests "will haveto be preceded by prior understandings about theirlocation and duration.