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Corporation Approves Of Faculty Resolution In 'Letter and Spirit'

By James M. Fallows

The Corporation said yesterday that it is "fully committed to carrying out in both letter and spirit" the Faculty's resolution to deny ROTC any special extra-curricular privileges.

The Corporation also said that its special ROTC negotiating committee will consult with the Faculty before making any decisions or recommendations about future ROTC arrangements.

Two student, plus several Faculty members who supported the ROTC resolution, will be added to the negotiating committee, which now consists of four Faculty members and Dean Glimp, the chairman.

The statements came in a letter written by Sargent Kennedy, secretary of the Corporation. He wrote in response to an SDS request last Wednesday, which gave the Corporation five days to clarify its policy on ROTC, Harvard expansion plans, and other strike-related issues.

In its explanation of general ROTC policy, the Corporation said that "subject only to concurring action" by the Law and Business faculties, it would carry out the resolution the Faculty passed on April 17. That resolution asked that ROTC have "no special privileges or facilities granted either by contract or informal arrangement."

But the Corporation said that it could not yet answer some of the specific questions that SDS had asked last Wednesday. These included whether ROTC might rent University space, whether ROTC might have a status simliar to PBH's, and whether any Harvard rules would be changed to let ROTC stay as an activity.

Foggy Future

"One cannot foresee whether ROTC would ever wish to offer training as any extracurricular activity in any sense, or, if it did, what detailed arrangements the services might wish to propose for the University's consideration," the statement said.

If the Pentagon proposes no "acceptable specific proposals," the statement continued, "it is possible that there can be no ROTC activity at Harvard except as necessary to wind up the existing contracts 'as soon as legally possible.'"

Pusey to Pick

Kennedy said last night that he did not know how the two students who will join the committee will be chosen. President Pusey will choose the Faculty members, who--according to the statement--will be "favorable to the [ROTC] resolution."

In response to SDS questions about expansion and rental policies, the Corporation said that:

* it has "no current plans to evict tenants or demolish" the University Road apartment building, at 122 Mt. Auburn St. Construction of the Kennedy Library complex might lead Harvard to "consider altering the use of the site," the statement said. But such acion is at least four or five years away, it said, and the "effect upon the tenants will be carefully studied . . . before any action is taken."

* the 182 families living near the planned Affiliated Hospitals Center in Boston will be relocated according to plans announced by Dr. Robert H. Ebert, dean of the Medical School, on April 12. Ebert's statement said that families will be relocated in several phases into housing "as suitable as possible to their choice and means, and with a minimum of inconvenience and hardship."

* an outside agency is now investigating rents in University-owned buildings to make sure that they are below current market levels.

The statement replied to two other SDS questions--whether Harvard would replace any lost ROTC scholarships, and whether Paine Hall demonstrators would have their scholarship money restored.

The Corporation said it would carry out the Faculty's vote of April 17 to give Harvard scholarships to needy students who lost ROTC scholarships. But any punishment for Paine Hall and University Hall demonstrators will be decided by the Committee of Fifteen and the Faculty, the statement said

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