Students Ready To Surround University Hall

About 200 to 300 students are expected to fill Tercentenary Theater at 2:30 p.m. today to hear speeches, chant slogans and surround University Hall as part of a rally for progressive causes.

Protesters will meet on the steps of Memorial Church and will surround University Hall at 3:15 p.m. to await Faculty members who will gather at 3:30 p.m. for the third full Faculty meeting of the year.

Protesters will call on Faculty members to respond to campaigns against sweatshop labor, for a $10-per-hour living wage for all Harvard workers and for improved various services for women who have been sexually assaulted.

The rally will feature six speakers with one student and one non-student representing each cause.

Today's events are headed by the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) and the Coalition Against Sexual Violence (CASV).

Faculty members will have to pass through a "human corridor" to enter University Hall. Protesters plan to use the opportunity to distribute literature about their causes to the Faculty.

During an open question portion of the meeting, Undergraduate Council representative Benjamin O. Shuldiner '99 will ask the Faculty to respond to the protesters' demands.

Although the rally will officially end at 4:30 p.m., some protesters will stay for the duration of the meeting to greet exiting Faculty members with a candlelight vigil.

"This is one of few times we will have the Faculty together, so we want to get the word out," said Eleanor I. Benko '02 of PSLM. "A lot of them have written on economic justice and social justice, and we want to get them on our side."

Secretary of the Faculty John B. Fox Jr. '59 said he is aware the rally is taking place but does not foresee that it will affect the Faculty meeting inside University Hall.

Captain Charles A. Schwab of the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) said officers will be on hand during the rally, but HUPD is not anticipating a disturbance. "We'll probably have a couple people in the area," he said. "We're not expecting any real problems."

Supporters of the Living Wage Campaign say today's rally is an extension of a Feb.26 protest held in front of Mass. Hall at which demands to speak to University President Neil L. Rudenstine or Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 were not met.

"The University only gave us a meeting with [Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III], which is really a blatant insult because he is the dean of students and this is an issue that goes beyond students," said Justin B. Wood '98-'99. "Our demand is to meet with people in the University who canimplement a University-wide policy."

Members of the Living Wage Campaign will meetwith Epps today at 2 p.m. right before the rallybut say they expect little to come from thislast-minute effort.

Sweatshop protesters say the rally follows onthe heels of similar protests at universities suchas Georgetown and Duke. Yesterday, Harvard alsoissued a letter in response to an Ivy League-wideultimatum issued by protesters Feb. 26. Protesterssaid the letter did not meet their demands.

Members of the coalition say they are callingon the University to create a women's center oncampus, to better train Sexual Assault/SexualHarassment residential advisers, and to organize amandatory orientation for all first-years onsexual assault.

The coalition also hopes to influence today'sfull Faculty vote on whether D. Drew Douglas,Class of 2000, should be asked to withdraw or bedismissed from the College. Douglas pled guilty tocharges of indecent assault and battery inMiddlesex Superior Court last September. Theundergraduate assaulted by Douglas last springbrought the case to the Ad Board, which determinedthat a rape had occurred.

The Ad Board voted to demand that Douglaswithdraw and to recommend dismissal, whichrequires a vote of the entire Faculty. Dismissalmeans separation from the College for usually morethan five years with the option to petition forreadmission, which requires a vote of the fullFaculty.

Last week, five Faculty members proposed thatDouglas be allowed to withdraw for five years. Ifthat motion is approved today, Douglas couldreturn to campus if he meets the requirements ofthe Ad Board.

As a result of his court conviction, Douglas iscurrently on probation for five years and isalready prohibited from seeking readmission toHarvard during this time.

The coalition is demanding Douglas's expulsion.

Brina Milikowsky '00 of CASV said she alsohopes the rally will educate students about thelarger issue of rape at Harvard.

"We need people to understand that [the rally]is not so much about punishment for the men but tomuch more effectively support survivors in acrisis and in the long-run," she said. "Harvard'spreventive resources are especially lacking."

Over the last week, organizers have blanketedthe Yard with posters and made announcements inlarge classes.

The publicity drive culminated last night, whenorganizers gathered at the Harvard Union ofClerical and Technical Workers' Mass. Ave.headquarters to call students who have expressedinterest in progressive causes and plan for acampus-wide door drop.

The New York Times, Time and the Boston Globeexpect to cover the event.

According to the groups' leaders, supporters ofthe three causes have banded together because eachhas been stonewalled by the administrationindividually.

"It's a coming together of the progressivecommunity on campus," said Anna M. Baldwin '00,who is involved with the coalition. "We've allbeen involved with discussions withadministrators, either over past years or thissemester, and we felt we weren't being heard, sowe wanted to come together en masse."

Organizers said they also felt that a combinedrally would generate new interest for each group'sindividual demands among other protestors.

"Everybody in attendance in aware of the othergroup's demands," said Benjamin L. McKean '02 ofPSLM. "The energy from each of the groups willspill over; people involved in one [group] willbecome interested in the [entire] rally."

--Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to thereporting of this article.

Members of the Living Wage Campaign will meetwith Epps today at 2 p.m. right before the rallybut say they expect little to come from thislast-minute effort.

Sweatshop protesters say the rally follows onthe heels of similar protests at universities suchas Georgetown and Duke. Yesterday, Harvard alsoissued a letter in response to an Ivy League-wideultimatum issued by protesters Feb. 26. Protesterssaid the letter did not meet their demands.

Members of the coalition say they are callingon the University to create a women's center oncampus, to better train Sexual Assault/SexualHarassment residential advisers, and to organize amandatory orientation for all first-years onsexual assault.

The coalition also hopes to influence today'sfull Faculty vote on whether D. Drew Douglas,Class of 2000, should be asked to withdraw or bedismissed from the College. Douglas pled guilty tocharges of indecent assault and battery inMiddlesex Superior Court last September. Theundergraduate assaulted by Douglas last springbrought the case to the Ad Board, which determinedthat a rape had occurred.

The Ad Board voted to demand that Douglaswithdraw and to recommend dismissal, whichrequires a vote of the entire Faculty. Dismissalmeans separation from the College for usually morethan five years with the option to petition forreadmission, which requires a vote of the fullFaculty.

Last week, five Faculty members proposed thatDouglas be allowed to withdraw for five years. Ifthat motion is approved today, Douglas couldreturn to campus if he meets the requirements ofthe Ad Board.

As a result of his court conviction, Douglas iscurrently on probation for five years and isalready prohibited from seeking readmission toHarvard during this time.

The coalition is demanding Douglas's expulsion.

Brina Milikowsky '00 of CASV said she alsohopes the rally will educate students about thelarger issue of rape at Harvard.

"We need people to understand that [the rally]is not so much about punishment for the men but tomuch more effectively support survivors in acrisis and in the long-run," she said. "Harvard'spreventive resources are especially lacking."

Over the last week, organizers have blanketedthe Yard with posters and made announcements inlarge classes.

The publicity drive culminated last night, whenorganizers gathered at the Harvard Union ofClerical and Technical Workers' Mass. Ave.headquarters to call students who have expressedinterest in progressive causes and plan for acampus-wide door drop.

The New York Times, Time and the Boston Globeexpect to cover the event.

According to the groups' leaders, supporters ofthe three causes have banded together because eachhas been stonewalled by the administrationindividually.

"It's a coming together of the progressivecommunity on campus," said Anna M. Baldwin '00,who is involved with the coalition. "We've allbeen involved with discussions withadministrators, either over past years or thissemester, and we felt we weren't being heard, sowe wanted to come together en masse."

Organizers said they also felt that a combinedrally would generate new interest for each group'sindividual demands among other protestors.

"Everybody in attendance in aware of the othergroup's demands," said Benjamin L. McKean '02 ofPSLM. "The energy from each of the groups willspill over; people involved in one [group] willbecome interested in the [entire] rally."

--Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to thereporting of this article.