546 Men Sign Petition For Inter-Racial Unit

Nearly one-fourth of Harvard's present student body, 546 men, signed their names to a petition sponsored by the John Reed Society requesting a voluntary inter-racial unit in the army.

The document, addressed to President Roosevelt, deplored the now prevalent policy of segregation of whites and Negroes in the nation's armed forces and declared the willingness of the signatories to serve in a mixed group. Prefacing the formal petition was a statement of the Society's desire to aid in the elimination of racial prejudice so that "the Negro people may with full faith in American democracy give all their effort to its defense."

Best-represented House among the sigaers was Winthrop, with 90 names, followed by Leverett and Eliot with 80 each.