University Recognizes May 2 Unit; Russell Praises National Movement

The University has extended official recognition to the Harvard chapter of the May Second Movement.

Dean Watson informed Albert L. Maher '62-3, president of the club, of the decision Friday. The University delayed recognition because the Harvard Council on Undergraduate Affairs failed to approve the club's constitution for several weeks. Last Thursday, however the HCUA gave its approval to the constitution and sent its recommendation to Watson.

The May Second Movement was founded last spring to oppose U.S. intervention in South Vietnam. According to Maher, however, the group has expanded its activities to include "general peace programs to warn people about possible U.S. intervention" in other parts in the world.

In a letter written early this month, Bertrand Russell, the British pacifist philosopher, praised the Movement and authorized an endorsement to be used over his name.

"The war of atrocity in Vietnam confronts Americans with a duty not unlike that faced by Germans during the Nazi era," he said.

"It is not necessary to compare the gas chambers of Nazi Germany with the internment camps employed in South Vietnam to make it clear that the record of torture and atrocity for which the United States is responsible challenges Americans with the same moral duty to protest," Russell declared.

American Conscience

"I consider the May Second Movement to speak for the conscience of Americans and I urge all who value the good name of their country to join in its work," he concluded.

Currently the Harvard chapter of the movement is conducting only a series of small seminars on the war in South Vietnam, but Maher indicated last night that future plans include circulating a petition advocating refusal to fight in the war.