White House Tells Ivy Presidents Draft Should Not Be Punishment

In response to a letter from the eight Ivy League college presidents, the White House has declared that the draft should not be used to punish anti-war and anti-draft protestors.

The White House response--written by Joseph A. Califano Jr., special assistant to President Johnson--and the presidents's letter were released to the public last Saturday.

In his reply, Califano said the Selective Service System "is not an instrument to repress and punish unpopular views." He said the system does not "vest in draft boards the judicial role in determining the legality of individual conduct."

An, Oct. 26 letter from Lieut. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey Jr., director of the Selective Service System, to local draft boards had recommended that college students who interfered with military recruiting personnel on campus be made subject to immediate induction.

Not Punishment.

The Ivy League letter had asked the White House to make it clear that the draft is not to be used as a punishment and that draft boards are not to become extralegal judges of the legality of acts of protest."

President Pusey said yesterday that the presidents had written the letter at their annual meeting held before vacation in New York.

Pusey said the annual meeting, held specifically each year to discuss the Ivy League athletic conference, traditionally turns to other matters of mutual interest once the athletics questions are disposed of. This year, he said, the question of Hershey's statement arose.

"Our decision was to write a private letter," Pusey said. He said that if the letter had not brought a satisfactory response, the presidents would have considered issuing a public statement on the subject. It was the White House that released both letters Saturday, with the approval of the presidents.

Pusey said that his participation in the letter on Hershey's statement bore no direct relation to a letter he received from the Law School Faculty before vacation asking the University to take "appropriate action" in response to Hershey's statement.

Law School

The Law School letter, passed by a substantial majority at the Law Faculty's regular meeting Dec. 12, had not been publicly released at the time. Pusey said yesterday that he has answered the Law School statement with a private letter of his own, which he declined to discuss.

Acting independently, Columbia University suspended all on-campus military recruiting last Nov. 21 in response to Hershey's statement.

In his reply to the Ivy presidents, Califano wrote that a statement issued Dec. 9 by Attorney General Ramsey Clark and Hershey had already tried to establish "that lawful protest activities, whether directed to the draft or other national issues, do not subject registrants to the acceleration or other special administrative action by the Selective Service System."

In a separate interview last Saturday, Hershey was reported to decline comment on whether he supported the position set forth in Califano's reply to the Ivy League presidents.