Inside

LESLIE GRIFFIN 70 (right), president of AAAS, speaks to students as the Faculty votes on the group's demands for an Afro-American studies department and a cultural center. Alumni say the crusade was just one aspect of the Black movement at Harvard. 1ROTCleader of the Students for a Democratic Society(SDS) led 300 students to the house of PresidentNathan M. Pusey '28 and tacked a list of sixdemands on his locked door.

The demands called for the University toabolish ROTC on campus, replace ROTC scholarshipsHarvard funds, restore scholarships to studentswho has lost them after participating in anearlier demonstration and, in three demandsunrelated to the war, treat working-classCantabrigans fairly.

That same night, SDS members considered thepossibility of attacking University Hall buteventually decided against it.

But the next day, 100 radical SDS membersstormed University Hall to publicize theirdemands. The number of protesters swelled to 450as more SDS members joined them. The studentsexpelled all administrators and prepared for along night.

Calling in the Riot Force

The takeover ended when President Nathan M.Pusey '28, in an unprecedented action, had 400Boston and suburban police officers break up theprotest.

Dressed in riot gear, the police officersbarreled through groups of students that hadsurrounded the building.

Students in University Hall joined hands in anattempts to block the entrances, but the policeknocked back the protesters with billy clubs,beginning a sweeping attack that many latercondemned as a police riot.

The Crimson reported that police officers threwmany students down the steps of University Hall.

Hyland, who chaired the meetings inside thebuilding, "was driven into the room screaming withtroopers clubbing his body."

"I'm not sure that was necessary," Hyland saisin a recent interview.

By the end, more than 300 students had beenarrested and 75 were injured.

"It was a very surreal experience to spend thenight in University Hall and all these light bluehelmets coming in at six in the morning," saysTheodore Sedgwick '71, a protester in thebuilding.

Moderate students condemned the police action,and 2,000 students met in Memorial Hall thatmorning, calling for a three-day College-widestrike.

"It was done in such a brutal way that's whatsparked the strike," Hyland says.

Many liberal members of the Faculty criticizedPusey's actions. The Faculty voted almostunanimously to drop criminal charges against thestudents and set up a committee to "investigatethe causes of the crisis."

@D:Catalyzing Change

The protests against ROTC catalyzed changesthat would permanently alter the campus climate.They brought the end to a time when facultyfrequently visited dining halls and a dress coderequired students to sport suit ties to meals .

"It changed the institution terribly," Youngsays. "The relations between the houses changed.There was a camaraderie and a collegiality betweenfaculty and students that suffered."

Student protesters now say that thisrelationship met its end in theanti-establishment sentiment that was inextricablypart of the protests.

"It was a generational protest on the onehand--protest against a bureaucratic society, ofthe uniformity coming out of the '50s," saysMichael Kazin '70, the former co-chair od SDS atHarvard.

The start of the Vietnam War brought a newsense of urgency to students' general criticismsof the status quo, protester say. It was the warthat turned the protests of a few radicals into amass student movement.

"It intensified the ordinary disruption ofbeing that age, many times over," remebers DavidI. Bruck '70, a protester and then- editorialchair of The Crimson. "The images of the war hungin the air like a noxious gas."

Students at the time say they felt they couldliterally change the world. Kazin says theprotesters acted according to deep moral beliefs.Hylands calls then philosophers.

"The most incredibly interesting question ofpolitical theory were posed in the mostimmediately possible way," Hyland says.

"I remember too the idea that we were playingin a big sandbox full of ideas," Bruck says. "Wewere all stoned on the world ran on ideas, thatideas could instantly transform life forever."

The administration met the student's narrowidealism with its own blindness, Hyland says.

Law Professor Emeritus Archibald Cox, whoadvised the administration during the studentprotests, says he was surprised by the students'actions.

"I think they did surprise me," says Cox, whowrote a book on Columbia's 1968 protests. "I don'tthink I foresaw anything like the occupation ofUniversity Hall that started all this."

"Every one to believe that this was apossibility. There was a kind of cognitivedissonance," Hyland says.

Vietnam to the Gulf War

The ROTC debate settled down considerably afterthe faculty ended the three-day on strike on April17, 1969, by voting to allot RTOC onlyextracurricular status and effectively forcing theprogram off Harvard campus.

After the administration's 170 decision,Harvard students could participate in ROTC byenrolling at MIT. In 1976, the Faculty voted toallow students to cross-register in ROTC coursesat MIT without receiving Harvard credit.

Today, Harvard gives #130,000 per year to MITfor the approximately 80 students at the Collegeenrolled in MIT's ROTC program.

Delaying a Decision

In May 1990,the Faculty Council voted on theUniversity's ROTC ties, just as it had in 1969.The council "issued a statement deploringdiscrimination by the military services againstgay and lesbain students," according to a 1992report of a faculty committee on ROTC.

If the military did not make significantprogress on fighting such discrimination withinthe next two years, the council said, Harvardshould stop its involvement in ROTC programs.

In 1992, after the Faculty's two-year deadlinehad passed, President Neil L. Rudenstineestablished a committee on ROTC, headed byPforzheimer University professor Sidney Verba '53,examine the University's ties to ROTC.

The Verba Committee did not suggest a total endto ties with ROTC. But it recommended that theUniversity cut funding to ROTC unless the militarysignificantly altered its stance on homosexuals.

"If the Department of Defense policy remains ineffect, Harvard should stop paying the MIT feebeginning with the class entering in 1994," thereport stated.

The report, however, gave the President leewayto postpone a decision if he saw fit. "Werecommend that... 1994 be a target or planningdate, not a rigid requirment. This flexibility,however, is not meant to be a license for delay,"the report said.

Despite changes in military policy under theClinton administration, the Faculty decidedearlier this year that the Verba committee'srecommendations still stand.

And in February, Rudenstine used the loopholein Verba report to extend ROTC for yet anotheryear. He said he was working out agreement withMIT to allow Harvard students to participatewithout the University paying MIT for theirinvolvement.

"I think the President is still involved innegotiations with MIT, and the convinced thefaculty that the delay was warranted," says Verba,who along with other committee members, says hebelieves Rudenstine is in negotiations with MIT."Our report left a loophole in it, very selfconsciously and carefully, and I think for goodreasons."

But Sara Gallop, assistant for governmentrelations and liasion in the MIT President'soffice on ROTC, says she is not aware of anynegotations with Harvard.

"We've never been formally asked by anybody atHarvard to consider that arrangement," she says.

Marc L. Goodheart, special assistant toPresident Rudenstine, has refused to comment.Rudenstine could not be reached for comment.

Different Issues

The issues today surrounding ROTC arefundamentally different from the issues in 1969.Then, students sought to abolish ROTC entirely.Now, students seek to end discrimination withinthe program.

"Today, it's about a policy within themilitary," says L. Fred Jewett'57, dean of theCollege. "By and large, it's not that people areopposed to having ROTC, it's that certain peopleare excluded."

Nevertheless, ROTC is once again a source ofdivision on campus. A few hundred studentsprotested the University's ties to ROTC whenHarvard announced Gen. Colin L. Powell, thenChairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff, as the 1993Commencement speaker.

Student protesters saw the Unversity'sinvitation to Powell as a tacit approval of themilitary's policy.

Clinton's election quieted protesters for awhile, but since his August 1993, "don't ask,don't tell" policy statement, ROTC opponents oncampus have been rethinkig their tactics andgathering speed.

"When I was here freshman and sophomore year,[ROTC] was very much discussed. I guess it hasdied down over the past few years," says Dennis K.Lin'96-'94, co-chair of the Bisexual, Gay andLesbian Students Association (BGLSA).

"Once Clinton got elected, people thought thatClinton would lift the ban, because he promisedduring the campaign," says Lin, who criticizesRudenstine for the delay in cutting financial tiesto the MIT program this year. "Then, last summer,when people saw that wasn't going to lift the ban,momentum picked up again."

And the momentum on campus picked up yet againthis week, when the BGLSA and the Civil LibertiesUnion at Harvard (CLUH) sponsored a posteringcampaign to make students aware that about $20 oftheir tuition goes toward ROTC fees.

A member of Harvard ROTC believes that ROTCwould be hurt if Harvard withdrew support.

"For Army ROTC, the top of the cadet chain ofcommand is all from Harvard," says Curtis L.Pierce II '94, cadet sergeant major of the ArmyROTC MIT battalion. "It would hurt the programwithout Harvard."

And one administrator says ROTC's criticsshould not lose sight of its benefits.

"One thing to think about with ROTC is that itis a source of free education," Young says. "I'vealways thought you can do more good if you staywith what's happening than if you hide in a cave,if we can say, damn it, we stand for this, ratherthan sit back and let things happen."

Another Harvard professor who was here 1969sees the new tenor of the ROTC debate as anindication how society has changed.

"We as a people are more conscious of theseissues now than we were in 1969," says Douglas W.Bryant, professor emeritus. "You can he sureHarvard won't take the [ROTC] decision lightly.What Harvard does becomes--in many ways--abellweather."

Students in the BGLSA and CLUH look forward tonext year as a watershed, knowing that whateverRudenstine decides on ROTC could movethe campusinto another phase of the ROTC debate.

"What I would like to see is PresidentRudenstine make a statement with his explictposition on ROTC," says Jeff A. Reading '96, gayrights project chair for CLUH.

Lin says he expects protests if nothing isdone.

"You can delay this for only so long before itbecomes obvious that people want to resolve it,"Lin says. "Now we're taking this in good faith,but if it goes on for another year, it wouldn't beacceptable anymore."

A Different World

The change in the ROTC debate was a change inissues--from an objection to militarism to astance against discrimination. But the nature ofthe debate was also recast by a new political era.

"[The issue then] really had this kind oflife-and-death urgency that's hard to replicatenow," notes New York Times Opinion columnist FrankRich Jr. '71 "It's such a different world now.It's almost apples and oranges."Crimson File PhotoTop: Soldiers march in Boston's 1969Veterans' Day parade. Bottom: Students during lastyear's Commencement hold pink balloons reading'Lift the Ban,' a reference to the military'sformer policy on gays.

The demands called for the University toabolish ROTC on campus, replace ROTC scholarshipsHarvard funds, restore scholarships to studentswho has lost them after participating in anearlier demonstration and, in three demandsunrelated to the war, treat working-classCantabrigans fairly.

That same night, SDS members considered thepossibility of attacking University Hall buteventually decided against it.

But the next day, 100 radical SDS membersstormed University Hall to publicize theirdemands. The number of protesters swelled to 450as more SDS members joined them. The studentsexpelled all administrators and prepared for along night.

Calling in the Riot Force

The takeover ended when President Nathan M.Pusey '28, in an unprecedented action, had 400Boston and suburban police officers break up theprotest.

Dressed in riot gear, the police officersbarreled through groups of students that hadsurrounded the building.

Students in University Hall joined hands in anattempts to block the entrances, but the policeknocked back the protesters with billy clubs,beginning a sweeping attack that many latercondemned as a police riot.

The Crimson reported that police officers threwmany students down the steps of University Hall.

Hyland, who chaired the meetings inside thebuilding, "was driven into the room screaming withtroopers clubbing his body."

"I'm not sure that was necessary," Hyland saisin a recent interview.

By the end, more than 300 students had beenarrested and 75 were injured.

"It was a very surreal experience to spend thenight in University Hall and all these light bluehelmets coming in at six in the morning," saysTheodore Sedgwick '71, a protester in thebuilding.

Moderate students condemned the police action,and 2,000 students met in Memorial Hall thatmorning, calling for a three-day College-widestrike.

"It was done in such a brutal way that's whatsparked the strike," Hyland says.

Many liberal members of the Faculty criticizedPusey's actions. The Faculty voted almostunanimously to drop criminal charges against thestudents and set up a committee to "investigatethe causes of the crisis."

@D:Catalyzing Change

The protests against ROTC catalyzed changesthat would permanently alter the campus climate.They brought the end to a time when facultyfrequently visited dining halls and a dress coderequired students to sport suit ties to meals .

"It changed the institution terribly," Youngsays. "The relations between the houses changed.There was a camaraderie and a collegiality betweenfaculty and students that suffered."

Student protesters now say that thisrelationship met its end in theanti-establishment sentiment that was inextricablypart of the protests.

"It was a generational protest on the onehand--protest against a bureaucratic society, ofthe uniformity coming out of the '50s," saysMichael Kazin '70, the former co-chair od SDS atHarvard.

The start of the Vietnam War brought a newsense of urgency to students' general criticismsof the status quo, protester say. It was the warthat turned the protests of a few radicals into amass student movement.

"It intensified the ordinary disruption ofbeing that age, many times over," remebers DavidI. Bruck '70, a protester and then- editorialchair of The Crimson. "The images of the war hungin the air like a noxious gas."

Students at the time say they felt they couldliterally change the world. Kazin says theprotesters acted according to deep moral beliefs.Hylands calls then philosophers.

"The most incredibly interesting question ofpolitical theory were posed in the mostimmediately possible way," Hyland says.

"I remember too the idea that we were playingin a big sandbox full of ideas," Bruck says. "Wewere all stoned on the world ran on ideas, thatideas could instantly transform life forever."

The administration met the student's narrowidealism with its own blindness, Hyland says.

Law Professor Emeritus Archibald Cox, whoadvised the administration during the studentprotests, says he was surprised by the students'actions.

"I think they did surprise me," says Cox, whowrote a book on Columbia's 1968 protests. "I don'tthink I foresaw anything like the occupation ofUniversity Hall that started all this."

"Every one to believe that this was apossibility. There was a kind of cognitivedissonance," Hyland says.

Vietnam to the Gulf War

The ROTC debate settled down considerably afterthe faculty ended the three-day on strike on April17, 1969, by voting to allot RTOC onlyextracurricular status and effectively forcing theprogram off Harvard campus.

After the administration's 170 decision,Harvard students could participate in ROTC byenrolling at MIT. In 1976, the Faculty voted toallow students to cross-register in ROTC coursesat MIT without receiving Harvard credit.

Today, Harvard gives #130,000 per year to MITfor the approximately 80 students at the Collegeenrolled in MIT's ROTC program.

Delaying a Decision

In May 1990,the Faculty Council voted on theUniversity's ROTC ties, just as it had in 1969.The council "issued a statement deploringdiscrimination by the military services againstgay and lesbain students," according to a 1992report of a faculty committee on ROTC.

If the military did not make significantprogress on fighting such discrimination withinthe next two years, the council said, Harvardshould stop its involvement in ROTC programs.

In 1992, after the Faculty's two-year deadlinehad passed, President Neil L. Rudenstineestablished a committee on ROTC, headed byPforzheimer University professor Sidney Verba '53,examine the University's ties to ROTC.

The Verba Committee did not suggest a total endto ties with ROTC. But it recommended that theUniversity cut funding to ROTC unless the militarysignificantly altered its stance on homosexuals.

"If the Department of Defense policy remains ineffect, Harvard should stop paying the MIT feebeginning with the class entering in 1994," thereport stated.

The report, however, gave the President leewayto postpone a decision if he saw fit. "Werecommend that... 1994 be a target or planningdate, not a rigid requirment. This flexibility,however, is not meant to be a license for delay,"the report said.

Despite changes in military policy under theClinton administration, the Faculty decidedearlier this year that the Verba committee'srecommendations still stand.

And in February, Rudenstine used the loopholein Verba report to extend ROTC for yet anotheryear. He said he was working out agreement withMIT to allow Harvard students to participatewithout the University paying MIT for theirinvolvement.

"I think the President is still involved innegotiations with MIT, and the convinced thefaculty that the delay was warranted," says Verba,who along with other committee members, says hebelieves Rudenstine is in negotiations with MIT."Our report left a loophole in it, very selfconsciously and carefully, and I think for goodreasons."

But Sara Gallop, assistant for governmentrelations and liasion in the MIT President'soffice on ROTC, says she is not aware of anynegotations with Harvard.

"We've never been formally asked by anybody atHarvard to consider that arrangement," she says.

Marc L. Goodheart, special assistant toPresident Rudenstine, has refused to comment.Rudenstine could not be reached for comment.

Different Issues

The issues today surrounding ROTC arefundamentally different from the issues in 1969.Then, students sought to abolish ROTC entirely.Now, students seek to end discrimination withinthe program.

"Today, it's about a policy within themilitary," says L. Fred Jewett'57, dean of theCollege. "By and large, it's not that people areopposed to having ROTC, it's that certain peopleare excluded."

Nevertheless, ROTC is once again a source ofdivision on campus. A few hundred studentsprotested the University's ties to ROTC whenHarvard announced Gen. Colin L. Powell, thenChairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff, as the 1993Commencement speaker.

Student protesters saw the Unversity'sinvitation to Powell as a tacit approval of themilitary's policy.

Clinton's election quieted protesters for awhile, but since his August 1993, "don't ask,don't tell" policy statement, ROTC opponents oncampus have been rethinkig their tactics andgathering speed.

"When I was here freshman and sophomore year,[ROTC] was very much discussed. I guess it hasdied down over the past few years," says Dennis K.Lin'96-'94, co-chair of the Bisexual, Gay andLesbian Students Association (BGLSA).

"Once Clinton got elected, people thought thatClinton would lift the ban, because he promisedduring the campaign," says Lin, who criticizesRudenstine for the delay in cutting financial tiesto the MIT program this year. "Then, last summer,when people saw that wasn't going to lift the ban,momentum picked up again."

And the momentum on campus picked up yet againthis week, when the BGLSA and the Civil LibertiesUnion at Harvard (CLUH) sponsored a posteringcampaign to make students aware that about $20 oftheir tuition goes toward ROTC fees.

A member of Harvard ROTC believes that ROTCwould be hurt if Harvard withdrew support.

"For Army ROTC, the top of the cadet chain ofcommand is all from Harvard," says Curtis L.Pierce II '94, cadet sergeant major of the ArmyROTC MIT battalion. "It would hurt the programwithout Harvard."

And one administrator says ROTC's criticsshould not lose sight of its benefits.

"One thing to think about with ROTC is that itis a source of free education," Young says. "I'vealways thought you can do more good if you staywith what's happening than if you hide in a cave,if we can say, damn it, we stand for this, ratherthan sit back and let things happen."

Another Harvard professor who was here 1969sees the new tenor of the ROTC debate as anindication how society has changed.

"We as a people are more conscious of theseissues now than we were in 1969," says Douglas W.Bryant, professor emeritus. "You can he sureHarvard won't take the [ROTC] decision lightly.What Harvard does becomes--in many ways--abellweather."

Students in the BGLSA and CLUH look forward tonext year as a watershed, knowing that whateverRudenstine decides on ROTC could movethe campusinto another phase of the ROTC debate.

"What I would like to see is PresidentRudenstine make a statement with his explictposition on ROTC," says Jeff A. Reading '96, gayrights project chair for CLUH.

Lin says he expects protests if nothing isdone.

"You can delay this for only so long before itbecomes obvious that people want to resolve it,"Lin says. "Now we're taking this in good faith,but if it goes on for another year, it wouldn't beacceptable anymore."

A Different World

The change in the ROTC debate was a change inissues--from an objection to militarism to astance against discrimination. But the nature ofthe debate was also recast by a new political era.

"[The issue then] really had this kind oflife-and-death urgency that's hard to replicatenow," notes New York Times Opinion columnist FrankRich Jr. '71 "It's such a different world now.It's almost apples and oranges."Crimson File PhotoTop: Soldiers march in Boston's 1969Veterans' Day parade. Bottom: Students during lastyear's Commencement hold pink balloons reading'Lift the Ban,' a reference to the military'sformer policy on gays.