Protest of Protests

Several national education lobbying groups with which the University is affiliated last week announced a campaign to prevent campus demonstrations which have forced controversial speakers such as U. N. Ambassador Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick to cancel addresses.

But University officials said this week that although they support the statement, prepared by the American Council on Education (ACE), they do not view similar disruptions as a problem at Harvard.

The campaign, which encourages campus groups to uphold the rights of speakers by letting them carry out their remarks, was spurred by Kirkpatrick's withdrawl as commencement speaker at Smith College due to widespread student and faculty opposition. Former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver and Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Sheik Ahmed Z. Yamani have also recently cancelled addresses citing campus protests.

"I don't see it as a problem here, but I think it is important in light of a series of incidents to make people understand that higher education does not condone those things." President Bok, who is an ACE board member, said Monday.

Bok added that he had seen the statement before it was made public but had not actively participated in formulating it.

In April 1981, Roy Prosterman an export who helped the El Salvation government design its land reform system, cancelled a debate scheduled at the Kennedy School one day after part of an 1800 member match against U.S. involvement in El Salvador interrupted a K-School speech he was delivering.