HARVARD TOO LENIENT

Dear President Pusey:

My disappointment in the dropping of charges against students who invaded and seized University Hall is beyond words. I, and hundreds more such as I, were rusticated and expelled for a year for, by these standards, relatively minor infracitons on the University's rules.

I suppose that if I had rolled a live hand grenade into your office I would have been forgiven because I was protesting against the refurbishment of Memorial Hall. It is actions such as the above by the Faculty and Administration of Harvard College that seems out of step with the harshness with which the University dealt with others and myself. Not only does this make your admissions policy suspect, a policy with which I have had some sad first-hand knowledge as a teacher and one formerly interested in trying to get good students to go to Harvard, but so is the College's lack of understanding of students once admitted.

There is no justification for ease of treatment of students who have openly violated the rules of the University which they accepted when they entered, regardless of the rights of the case. I would expect, in all fairness, that discipline cases such as mine--having an unchaperoned meeting of the Harvard Art Association in Sever Hall with a nude model--would be removed from my files and expunged from my record. I trust that you will see to this in light of the leniency of the university in unlawful seizure and trespassing.

Lastly, I am grateful that no children of mine will be going to either Harvard or Radcliffe, even though the financial capacity, as well as the mental ability and interest to meet whatever standards that are in vogue can be met by myself and my children. I am glad that I have not taken part in any alumni functions or contributed financially in any way to Harvard for the past 18 or so years. Robert L. Matters '50