School Committee Refuses To Alter Stand on Stokely

With considerable dramatic flourish, the Cambridge School Committee las night voted not to reconsider its refusal to allow Stokely Carmichael to speak in Rindge Tech Auditorium.

The excitement began and ended early when Committeewoman Barbara Acker man opened the meeting with a motion to review the decision which has forced the Harvard-Radcliffe Young Democrats to move Carmichael's November 10th speech to Briggs Cage.

Only five members of the School Committee were present, including the three who originally voted to approve the use of Rindge Tech, and for a moment it appeared that the Committee policy would be reversed.

But Committeeman James F. Fitzgerald immediately launched a filibuster against the motion to reconsider which only ended when the sixth member was miraculously produced from his sick bed in an adjoining room. George F. Oleson staggered to his chair, barked a loud "no" when the roll was called, and then went home.

While closing the door on the possibility of Carmichael's spjeaking at Rindge, the Committee continued its attempt to define a formal policy to deal with future incidents involving the use of city school facilities by controversial speakers.

Two Factions

As expected, the two School Committee factions each had their own plan. They agreed that university groups should first try to locate an auditorium on campus and failing to find a suitable one, should then submit their request for Cambridge school facilities through a University official. The controversy concerns the amount of power the Committee should have in refusing speakers once they have been approved by the University Administration.

Under Mayor Daniel J. Hayes' proposed policy the Committee would have to grant use of its facilities only for "purposes it deems in the interest of the community."

Committee Liberals

According to Ackerman a policy with those qualifications would not prevent a repetition of the Carmichael incident. She and the Committee liberals support an amendment offered last night by Francis H. Duehay, assistant dean of the Ed School, which would strike the phrase "deems in the interest of the community" and leave the Committee with power to reject only speakers that might incite a riot.

Hayes claims his version would accomplish the same thing, since original responsibility for deciding on the suitability of speakers would be shifted from the School Committee to University administrators.

Young-Dems President Lawrence Seidman '68 says he shares the doubts of skeptics like Ackerman and Duehay and will continue to try to schedule popular speeches in the large auditoriums regardless of any general policy the Committee adopts or rejects.

The Committee will consider both the original and amended forms of the "Policy for Promoting the Usefulness of Public School Property" at its next meeting November 15