Recruiter Claims Morality of War Is Not Relevant

The Dow Chemical Company recruiter who visited Harvard yesterday had a more comfortable day than his predecessor of last October.

The recruiter--Arthur C. Shaw--had a full schedule, interviewing 12 students during the day. According to Shaw, four of the six students he interviewed during the morning were "serious candidates" for employment with Dow. The other two came in to "talk with a Dow employee--and find out why he works with Dow," he said.

One non-serious candidate--Henry R. Norr '68--said Shaw refused to talk until Norr argued that the University justified recruiting on the basis of free speech. When Norr asked Shaw his opinion of the morality of the Vietnam war, the recruiter replied that it was "irrelevant."

Norr felt that his questions were "way over this guy's head." The recruiter told him that demonstrations against Dow were aiding the company's recruiting by keeping its name before science students in the East.

Asked in a CRIMSON interview why he does work for Dow, Shaw said, "I support the decisions our company has made in regard to the manufacture of napalm and am proud to work for Dow." He refused to elaborate.

Dow is committed to on-campus recruiting, Shaw said. He felt that any student "has the right to discuss employment with us and we have the obligation to meet with him--it's as simple as that."

Shaw admitted that Dow had considered recruiting off-campus at Harvard after last October's demonstration. But the company decided they had to "support the placement office, a legitimate function within the university," by continued on-campus recruiting.