College Plans No Disciplinary Proceedings

University officials said earlier this week that they do not plan to discipline any of the students involved in a blockade of a celebratory dinner at Memorial Hall during the 350th anniversary.

However, Law School officials withheld two students' registration packets until the students were interviewed about their involvement in the blockade which forced the cancellation of the dinner.

Protesting the University's $416 million invested in companies that do business with South Africa, some 70 activists, including alumni, labor activists and about 15 students, prevented some 600 alumni, faculty members and top officials from entering Memorial Hall on September 4.

Garbed in formal wear, the guests were gathering to attend a dinner hosted by the University to commemorate the 350th. At times throughout the two-hour blocakde, both activists and guests engaged in shouts and violent scuffles.

President Derek C. Bok decided to cancel the dinner because he said he wanted to prevent any injury to guests. No arrests were made, although there were about 30 policeman on the scene.

Although about 15 students participated in the protest, none was actually involved with the blockade, activists said. Witnesses said, however, that some of the student protesters became actively involved in the blockade and in confrontations with guests.

College officials said they have no indication that any undergraduates were involved in the blockade and therefore have made no efforts to identify participants or forward disciplinary proceedings.

But Law School Dean of Students Mary Upton withheld the registration packets of two students to insure that they came to her office for a conference about their role in the demonstration, said the students.

The law students, who started this semester before the 350th celebration began, said that they did not believe the conference was meant to intimidate them or prohibit them from enrolling, but only to ensure that Upton would have a chance speak with them.

Wilson McLeod, a second-year law student, said that Upton had seen him on television and had confused another McLeod, who was quoted as having participated in the blockade with him. Once McLeod explained to Upton that he had been supporting the blocakde, but not participating in it, she said that he would not be disciplined.

The activists had decided before the protest that none of the students supporting the effort would participate in the blockade because they had more to lose than the alumni, said McLeod.

Two years ago, student protesters were disciplined for blockading a South African diplomat in the Lowell House Junior Common Room after the blockade became violent.

"Basically this was a harrassment tactic," said McLeod of Upton's withholding his registration materials. "I think that's all they were trying to do."

But Jamie Raskin, a third-year law student who also had his registration packet withheld, said, "There was no threat implicit or explicit to deny me the opportunity to register."