Dean's Office, Council Veto Taffrail Charter

The Dean's Office and the Student Council yesterday refused to approve the NROTC's Taffrail Club until the compulsory membership and dues paying provisions of its constitution are changed. Doan Watson declared that the Club had already taken steps to change these provisions, however.

In contradiction to Dean Watson's statement, Taffrail club president Robert L. Jenkins '54 said last night that Club officers had not yet decided whether sections of the constitution requiring membership and dues of all NROTC students will be stricken or retained. "We have to talk to Captain Gallaher," he explained.

Giving his reasons for refusing to approve the Club, Watson said, "Harvard's policy has always been one of voluntary membership in undergraduate organizations. . . . It's not in the spirit of things to force students to join or pay dues."

Army Urged to Revise "Cloudy" Points He explained the compulsory provisions of the Taffrail Club constitution as the result of a misunderstanding, and said they were instituted because the officers of the unit thought they would make it easier to collect dues. The Army Unit's Caisson Club will also be urged to amend its constitution to clarify some "cloudy" points concerning the collection of dues, he added.

There's no conflict of interest here," Watson noted. "Professors of both units quite agree with us, and want the organizations to be voluntary."

He predicted that the new Taffrail constitution would probably be submitted to the Student Council at its next meeting, and that there would be "no compulsion as far as membership and dues are concerned."

Jenkins Says Nothing Definite

Jenkins, who had said Tuesday that they Club would probably continue to collect dues whether it was approved or not, seemed loss positive last night. "Its In a state of transition," he said. "There's nothing definite." Jenkins will meet with Dean Watson to discuss the situation today.