Activist Groups to Hold Anti-ROTC Meeting

A group that opposes the presence of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at Harvard will meet today to plan a protest in response to a ROTC drill at Harvard Hall on Wednesday.

About 30 to 50 people from various activist student groups are expected to attend the meeting, said John G. Donaghy '90-91, who last year actively lobbied the Undergraduate Council not to reconsider ROTC's return to the Harvard campus.

Protesters will revive the Anti-ROTC Action Committee (ARAC).

"Some action will definitely come out of [the meeting]," said Dinghy, adding that rallies might be one form of protest.

ROTC, which was restricted to the status of an extracurricular by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1969, held a full drill in Harvard Hall on Wednesday.

"I was surprised and a little bit insulted," said Lily S. Khadjavi '90, a member of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Students Association.

But Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 said, "ROTC has a right to request campus space on an individual, time-to-time basis like any other activity."

To prepare for today's meeting, Deepak Bhargava '90 and Jeanne F. Theoharris '91, an editor at the liberal Perspective, yesterday met with Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III for a "friendly information gathering session."

"Among other things, we wanted to understand the role of the council in granting ROTC space on campus," Bhargava said. "ROTC has all the privileges of an extracurricular activity without the responsibility of one."

Khadjavi said this week's activity raised the concern that the drill could be the first step toward a reinstatement of ROTC at Harvard.

"There are no grounds for thinking ROTC will be back at Harvard," said former council vice chair Noam Bramson '90-91. "It's my understanding that the administration would only consider bringing ROTC back if there was no sufficient sign of student protest, but clearly last year's demonstrations demonstrated that concern," Bramson said.