Court Tries 30 M.I.T. Students For Part in Recent 'Food Riots'

Thirty M.I.T. "disturbers of the peace" sat cowed in East Cambridge District Court yesterday as police officers tried to identify them in connection with crimes they allegedly committed at the "Food Riots" of March 2-3.

The Tech students plus a Yale freshman who got "nabbed" during the allnight rioting, which was climaxed by the lighting of bonfires in the middle of Memorial Drive, appeared in court for the opening of their trial. Judge M. Edward Viola is expected to hand down a verdict on each of the defendants today.

Identification did not always proceed smoothly. Cambridge police Sgt. Frederick G. Clancy, for instance, claimed to have arrested one defendant who was actually booked by the Metropolitan District Commission police. The charges against most of those arrested were "disturbing the peace" and "participating in a riot."

Hot and cold water, doorknobs, broken glass, furniture, and burning balls of paper were hurled out of the windows of M.I.T.'s Baker House, M.D.C. officers related. One patrolman had his teeth chipped and his eye injured by flying "missiles." The demonstrations, involving several hundred students, were touched off by a proposed increase in board rates for next year.

The defense spent its time justifying the presence of some of the defendants at the scene of the riots. Some, it was argued, were acting as members of the student government in trying to "disperse" crowds; others were reporting for the student newspaper; still others were just passing by.

The defendants face possible jail sentences and disciplinary action by the M.I.T. administration.