ERC Deferment Edict Does Not Hold Here

Reports heard over the radio last night that members of the ERC might be left in college until May definitely do not apply to Harvard, it was learned last night as officials of the War Service Information Bureau and of the First Service Command agreed that reservists here are still subject to call as of the first of the month.

In a clarification of the War Department Order of January 27, in which it was announced that most ERC men would be called at the end of the "current term," the Adjutant General's office yesterday stated that the order would be interpreted to mean that semester which was in progress on the day on which the order was released. At Harvard, the spring term began just four days too late to allow the deferment of undergraduate reservists until May.

Another development yesterday was the receipt of an order to report at Fort Devens next Tuesday by a Freshman who was not in the ROTC and who had not left College. This is apparently the first order of its kind to be received.

Yesterday's announcement came as a result of a situation at B.U., where orders that had already been sent to students were rescinded. Investigation through Washington resulted in the selection of January 27 as an arbitrary date which determined who could stay in college.

The question then arose as to whether it might be possible to include Harvard in the directive in the case of those students who had finished their exams. The First Service Command ruled, however, that it was impossible in this case to consider a semester to have ended before the classes of the succeeding one had commenced, and that therefore reservists here would still be subject to call.

According to Perkins, few large colleges have benefited by the new ruling, although units at many small schools will continue to get deferment until the end of the present semester.