Students Sign Petition Calling for Revisions In U.S. Cuban Policies

An estimated 250 Harvard and Radcliffe undergraduates signed a four-point petition last night criticizing U.S. policies toward Cuba.

The petition, sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Liberal Union, urged an end to the "ill-conceived" embargo, "willingness to negotiate "over Guantanamo Bay," and an effort to keep open "avenues of communication." It also urged President Eisenhower not to commit his successor irrevocably on the Cuban issue.

Last night's petition appeared in Harvard dining halls, and in Barnard, Briggs, and Bertram Halls at Radcliffe. Tonight, the HRLU hopes to add more Harvard signatures and to complete Radcliffe coverage.

Bundy Opposes

Although Dean McGeorge Bundy, speaking at an HRLU forum on Nov. 6 had firmly criticized the Liberal Union's attitude toward Cuba, tonight's petition made it clear that the HRLU has not altered its views since that time.

Peter D. Livingston '62, President of the HRLU, said Dean Bundy's views were valuable but "dry" and representative of State Department opinion. The aim of the petition, Livingston explained, is precisely to remind the government that "sentiment exists which is opposed to the course the U.S. has been taking."

Dean Bundy had insisted that the survival of Castroist Cuba constituted a "threat to the ideals of Latin American government." It would be difficult, he observed, for the U.S. not to support a Liberal counter-revolution against the "Marxist-oriented" Castro government.