K-School Students Call for Library Renaming

The student association of the Kennedy School of Government passed a resolution yesterday calling on the school's administration to rename the Engelhard Library of Public Affairs.

Thirty-seven students voted at the meeting, which was open only to current Kennedy School students. There was one dissenting vote and three abstentions, Gerry Connolly, a member of the student government who chaired the meeting, said yesterday.

Different Position

Graham T. Allison, '62, dean of the Kennedy School, said last night that students "are encouraged to express their views, especially dissenting views," adding he wanted to know more about the basis of the students' resolution -- their evidence and weighing of considerations -- before commenting on the resolution.

Connolly attributed the meeting's success in deciding upon a resolution to a lessening of the dissension that dominated last week's meeting. "We're beginning to coalesce politically," Connolly said, adding, "We are not totally united, but we're not so torn that we can't unite on such a basic action."

Students at the meeting focused on the issue of the library, rather than on broader questions of the University's policy concerning donations, which sidetracked last week's meeting, Connolly said.

The resolution will be posted up in the school early next week, so students who agree with it can sign it. The student government, which sponsored the meeting, wants to demonstrate that the resolution is representative of student opinion and that it was not "ramrodded through," Connolly said.

Narrow Focus

After the meeting, 14 black students met with Allison to discuss the Engelhard issue. "Basically, our position was not very different from the resolution adopted by the student association," Luther M. Ragin Jr. '76, a student at the Law School and the Kennedy School, said last night.

Money, Money, Money

Many students object to the naming of the public affairs library for Engelhard because he was a mining magnate who made his fortune with profits from South African gold mines manned by black laborers.