Protesters Ask University For Child Care Facilities

While soap bubbles and babies bawled, a crowd of about 100 people rallied at University Hall at noon Thursday to demand that Harvard provide the University community with child-care service.

The rally was called by Harvard Child Care Action-a group composed of Harvard-Radeliffe students, students' wives, and women workers at Harvard.

Three women spoke at the rally and called for immediate action by Harvard to provide its entire community-workers as well as students and faculty-with parent-controlled child-care centers.

Students and Faculty Only

One of the speakers, Rita Arditti, a researcher at the Medical School, said administrators at the Medical School had secretly planned a child-care center that would be for students and faculty only. She said that the way in which the Administration had ignored the needs of the workers had taught her that the group must be more militant.

Other speakers talked about the philosophy behind the child-care centers and how the role women play in society is limited because they have to take care of children.

After the rally about 40 members of the crowd marched to Massachusetts Hall to present L. Gard Wiggins, administrative vice-president of Harvard, with a petition that demanded immediate action by Harvard on the childcare issue. The group asked for a response by Wednesday, August 5.

Wiggins was not in, but William Bentinck-Smith, assistant to the President, told the crowd that he knew nothing about Harvard's stand on the child-care issue.

A spokesman for the group said that they did not expect immediate action from Harvard and that the rally was called to make Harvard more aware of the need for child care and to gather support for later action.

They will meet again at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, August 6, at Phillips Brooks House to decide what course they will take if Harvard does not respond to their demands satisfactorily.