Conscientious Objector May Face Penalties by Federal Government

A student pacifist on temporary leave from the University faces the possibility of federal prosecution for his stand as a conscientious objector.

The local draft board has now ordered Pierre Fischer 1G to report for his physical next month.

"I just don't know which way to turn," Fischer said last night. "Right now I'm trying to get a Presidential appeal, but my best hopes are very slim." The draft board has completely refused to reconsider his case on the grounds that Fischer does not have American citizenship, which allows a conscientious objector status.

"But the disheartening thing about all this," Fischer objected, "is that my citizenship papers are being delayed because the draft board won't give me a conscientious objector listing." As a citizen of Belgium, Fischer is caught in a vicious circle that apparently can have no satisfactory ending for him.

Fears Naturalization in Danger

"When I refuse induction they'll prosecute me, meaning I'll never get naturalized," he continued. He applied for citizenship last fall while doing graduate work in Astronomy. "All the draft board refusals made it extremely hard to study," Fischer reflects. The additional problem of financial worry forced Fischer to consult with the Observatory faculty, who agreed he should drop his studies until his difficulties were smoothed out.

All of his efforts, however, have run into a blank wall. "I just can't understand it," Fischer complains. The National Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation even wrote a letter for me, and yet everything has been ignored."

"There is a glimmer of hope," he admits, "in the success of some of my friends in getting a reversal over the draft boards rulings against their conscientious objector belief." One pacifist friend, Christopher Fried 3G, was able to get special draft status upon a special appeal, after both the local and state boards had turned him down.