George Wald, Higgins Professor of Biology, said last night that the Massachusetts campaign organization for Fred Harris for President "jumped the gun" yesterday by releasing a statement from Wald endorsing Harris.

The Nobel-Prize-winning biologist and liberal activist called the statement "conditional," and said he was "really not ready to take the plunge." Wald said, "I still have some thinking to do, but I do feel confident of what I said in the statement."

In the statement, Wald characterized the former Oklahoma senator as "the only possibility for a meaningful campaign, for offering the American voters a genuine political choice."

The Harris Committee could not be reached for comment last night.