Techmen Reject First Candidate To Mention International Issues

M.I.T. students this week passed up their first chance to elect an even mildly internationalist candidate as president of the Undergraduate Organization.

Campaign directors for junior Herbert Engle, when the student newspaper Tech endorsed as the only candidate free of "parochial attitudes," expressed pleasure however, at his poll of 553 votes. Winner Henry Bowman received 355, and Steven Kaufman polled 474. Eagle began the campaign March 1, unofficially sponsored by the group for a Rational Approach to Disarmament and Peace. He explicitly favored a program of disarmament initiatives for the United States.

By Wednesday's voting, however, the realization that "M.I.T. wasn't ready for this problem" caused Eagle to modify his position. In a statement to The Tech he denied connection with the RADP or any specific political position, and declared that a vote for him would be simply "a commitment to evaluate the dangers of the arms race." Besides presenting a program of specific suggestions for M.I.T. such as a Peace Research Institute, a Public Issues Committee, and a Peace Library, Eagle stressed the need for student concern for world affairs.

Like Bowman and Kaufman, who concentrated exclusively on campus matters, Eagle also discussed his policy on the major current M.I.T. concerns: the Finance Board, student entrepreneurship, and Freshman Orientation Week. However, "the only major issue facing the student body in this election is whether an elected student government should take any direct role in public affairs and political issues," The Tech declared.

Apparently most M.I.T. students feel it shouldn't. One Eagle supporter's explanation was that M.I.T. students are either apathetic or vaguely conservative. One anti-Eagle poster, on the other hand, showed a picture of an eagle grasping M.I.T. in its bloody claws. His nest was labelled "Harvard, Columbia, and Antioch."

In his call for a "serious study and research for the purpose of seeking positive alternatives" to the arms race. Eagle had suggested that Inscomm (Newspeak for Student Council) might sponsor discussions, referenda, and student meetings to explore public issues. The other