Diplomatic School Says It's Autonomous

A diplomatic war broke out in Medford, Mass, last week over the independence of a small graduate school of International Law which supposedly is administered with the cooperation of Harvard.

The war, however, does not presently involve the University. It is being waged between the school itself, which ranks among the three leading schools of diplomacy in the world, and Tufts, one of the nation's newest universities.

This school, The Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy, claims it morally belongs first to itself, second to its administrator, Tufts University, and third (but hardly least) to Harvard University. Its opponent, Tufts, which had been Tufts College until this year, claims the school now legally belongs in its list of graduate schools.

The battle started after Tufts officially announced in its 1955-56 university catalogue that Fletcher was one of its eleven schools. Over ninety percent of Fletcher's 78 students, indignant at the thought of losing the autonomous independence their school had enjoyed since it was founded in 1933, protested the announcement with a petition addressed to the Tufts Board of Trustees.

The students said they expected the petition would be received well by the Trustees since they believed the principal figure behind the new policy, Tufts' young, progressive president, Nils Wessel, had not consulted the Board before publishing the 1955-56 catalogue.

Arthur J. Anderson, chairman of the Board, yesterday refused to comment on this latter charge although he said he was presently aware of the rebellion at Fletcher.

Wessel, the students added, had inadvertently included Fletcher in his new expansion plan for the university without considering the effect his action would have on the School's future.

The students' primary argument against a Tufts annexation was based on a claim that the School had built up its own reputation while operating with a definite sense of independence. They said, however, that as part of a university which was not internationally farrmees, they would also loss the world-wide prestige and tradition which was formed under its autonomous rule.

These graduate students, who refused to be identified except on the petition because of their delicate position as future foreign service agents, added that Harvard University was partially to blame for the new Tufts policy.

"It is because of Harvard's waning enthusiasm for Fletcher that Tufts was