COCA Spared By Ad Board

The College's Administrative Board does not intend to discipline members of the Committee on Central America (COCA) for publishing and distributing fake draft cards, Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III said in an interview last night.

"We have discussed it," said Epps, a member of the Ad Board. "At the moment we don't plan any disciplinary action, although I've been asked to discuss the protest with officers of COCA."

Group members delivered about 900 facsimile draft cards bearing a forged signature of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to undergraduate males last week. "You are hereby ordered for induction to the Armed Forces of the United States, for service in El Salvador," the notice read, asking students to appear at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.

COCA, however, failed to identify itself as the distributor of the material as required by rules in the Handbook for Students, printing only the word "facsimile" in small type at the card's bottom.

But the Ad Board--charged with judging violations of College rules--decided in a meeting yesterday not to discipline the group.

"It would seem that the publication of the draft material is protected under the rights of freedom of expression," Epps said.

Members of COCA said they distributed the notices to draw attention to U.S. involvement in El Salvador and spark debate at Harvard.

"It was designed to promote discussion and peak interest in the real issues," said Debbie M. Gurner '91, a COCA member. "I did not expect people to believe it, at least not for very long."

But Jason I. Shure '90, also a COCA member, said he was disappointed in the campus reaction.

"People seem more interested in paying attention to petty procedural issues here than issues of life and liberty there," said, referring to the escalation of civil disorder in El Salvador.

Members said their tactic was not a new idea. A group at Rutgers University issued facsimile draft cards to its student body last year, according to Gurner.

Shure said the Rutgers organization "had some problems" with the university administration as a result of their action, but added that he did not know how the issue was resolved.

Meanwhile, COCA sponsored a burning of the facsimile draft cards yesterday morning in front of Memorial Church. Approximately 50 people attended the gathering, which also featured brief speeches by activists, members said.

In a related event, St. Mary's Catholic Church held a special mass last night in memory of the recent killing of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter at the University of Central America in El Salvador.

The Spanish-language mass, attended by more than 200 members of the city's Hispanic community, was presided over by Cardinal Law of the Archdiocese of Boston.