Dean Bender Clarifies Statement on Students and the Draft

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The story in Wednesday's CRIMSON about my remarks at a freshman meeting may have given the wrong impression to some of your readers. Since I have no desire to add to the present uncertainty or to pose as an authority on the future of the draft, I would appreciate your publishing a further statement.

What I was trying to say was that if a student could postpone a decision about his own course of action, it was ordinarily better to do so, since the terms of selective service are likely to be considerably changed by the end of the year and new legislation and policies might make a big difference in what the student ought to do. I went on to say, to illustrate my point, that it was entirely possible that the present Junior class might be deferred on masse to complete its college course, that it was also possible that the present Sophomore class might be similarly deferred and that it was possible, though unlikely, that even the present freshman class might be deferred. I have no basis for saying that present sophomores and juniors will probably be deferred. This possibility is, of course, closely related to what Congress does about eighteen-year olds. If eighteen-year olds are drafted, the possibility that present college students will be allowed to complete their college programs is greatly increased. If, on the other hand, Congress votes not to draft any on under 19, the number of students allowed to continue in college will probably be much smaller. W. J. Bender   Dean of Harvard College