Jail Awaits Students Who Defy Air Drills

College and Radcliffe students may be fined $500 and sent to jail for six months if they again neglect a Cambridge air raid drill the way they did Saturday, city civil defense director Edmund M. Burke declared last night.

Burke said he was "really burned up" by the "open defiance of the law" shown by certain students during the atomic disaster test from 9:05 to 9:15 a.m. Saturday.

Students were continually crossing Broadway near Memorial Hall and Burr Lecture Hall while the air raid sirens sounded, and they deliberately disobeyed orders to take cover, Burke said. "Apparently the fellows get a kick out of laughing in the face of the law," he added.

The civil defense director said he plans to write President Pusey about the situation.

Although a Massachusetts statute provides a $500 fine or six months' imprisonment, or both, for civil defense violations, Burke said he would not try to prosecute the students this time. He asserted, however, that if it happened again he "certainly would consider prosecution."

The Memorial Hall area was the only place in Cambridge where air raid rules were violated, Burke reported. Behavior in Harvard Square was perfect, he said.