TOSCIN Debates War Defense In Local High School Assembly

Three members of TOCSIN ran an assembly program on the subject of nuclear war yesterday at a local school. Their brief speeches began the undergraduate study-group's project to share the products of its research with various segments of the greater Boston community.

Jennifer Simon '64 and Christopher E. Hobson '63 were sharply questioned by students at the commonwealth school after they discussed the likelihood and magnitude of a nuclear catastrophe, and the arguments for and against civil defense.

The audience of the small, private school reiterated, "Of course we're scared, but what can we do?"

'Awareness of Danger'

Miss Simon observed that while TOCSIN and the promoters of civil defense both sought to promote "awareness of the imminent danger," those urging immediate shelter construction had a concrete next step of offer.

TOCSIN, on the other hand, was in no position to recommend anything beyond self-education. Peter Goldmark '62, President of the disarmament study-group, admitted that awareness is not an end in itself. He said the speakers had not come prepared with specific courses of action to pursue, but with a bibliography instead.

Unilateral Initiatives

When Ron Carver, an eleventh grade student at Commonwealth, asked how TOCSIN different from "SANE and other groups," Hobson outlined the organization's study of unilateral initiatives which should be urged on the government.

Specifically, the transforming of America's early warning system into a bidirectional unit and insistence on UN supervision of Israeli and Egyptian atomic reactors were suggested as steps which might elicit peaceable responses from the Soviet Union.

Among this exceptionally alert group of students, though, ran a feeling that advocacy of technical, political, and strategic alternatives left no room for their activity.

No Influence

They were frustrated by the fact that they had no apparent say on the issue of war or peace, and that the decision mechanism of this country did not include them.

After Hobsin had read a passage from John Hersey's Hiroshima, the students found little appeal in the construction of shelters, a bibliography of arms race literature, or juvenile "getting out the vote" activity.

TOCSIN, which will this week join a national coordinating group called the Turn Toward Peace, is presently organizing symposiums similar to the one at the Commonwealth school in the area and in conjunction with several Boston unions.