18 Arrested in Draper Lab Protest

Three Harvard student were among 18 persons arrested yesterday outside the Charles Stark Draper laboratories in Cambridge while protesting the facility's involvement in nuclear weapons production.

The students, John S. Lindsay '82, Jonathan H. Chute '82, and Alfred D. Shapere '83, were arrested by waiting Cambridge police shortly after arriving at Draper. The students were charged with trespassing and taken to Middlesex Third District Court in East Cambridge where Chute and Shapere--both first offenders--pleaded "no contest" and were fined for court costs.

Lindsay, who was arrested last year for the same offense, will face trial.

Criminal

"Draper's work is criminal, and we wanted to get this message to the people," Lindsay said last night.

Lindsay said Draper, which he said gets three quarters of its income from defense-related contracts, designs and produces guidance systems for the Trident, Cruise, and MX missiles.

Yesterday's protest was organized by the Draper Peace Conversion Group, which Lindsay described as a group consisting of local students and various peace activists.

The protest began in Central Square at 9 a.m., demonstrators said. The group marched down Central Square to the Draper building carrying a sign which read. "Peace on Earth Begins With You."

Day Off

Upon arriving at Draper, the group sat down and blocked the visitors' entrance to the building.

Lindsay said the group had notified Cambridge police of the protest last week "because they would just arrest us anyway." Police took the protestors to the Cambridge jail in Central Square where they were booked before being transported to the courthouse.

Most of those arrested were first offenders, and in return for their "no contest" pleas were given the option of either paying their fines outright, giving a pint of blood to the Red Cross, or doing volunteer work. Chute said last night, adding that he opted to give blood.

Lasting Effect

Last Saturday, many of the same demonstrators held a rally at Draper in an attempt to spur interest in yesterday's protest, demonstrators said. The rally was not held on Draper property and no one was arrested.

Draper Laboratories was created by MIT and still retains informal ties with the university MIT divested itself of the facility in 1971 after students protested its defense ties, Lindsay said.