McNamara Protest On Despite Masters' Move To Control Picketers

Barney Frank '62, assistant to the director of the Kennedy Institute, said yesterday that he was "disturbed to hear that members of SDS were planning to demonstrate in Quincy House courtyard in spite of a ruling made by individual Masters that this would not be allowed."

SDS decided last Wednesday, that they would hold a "disruptive demonstration" in Quincy House courtyard when Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara speaks there next Monday for the Kennedy Institute.

"We have tried three times to negotiate arrangements with SDS for peaceful picketing," Frank continued, "but there has been no response."

If SDS members decide to demonstrate in the courtyard, Frank continued, they will probably be asked to leave by the Master of the House or the Senior Tutor. If they refuse to leave, they will be subject to disciplinary action.

Frank said that he had talked with Dean Monro yesterday, and alerted him to the possibility that there might be trouble, but that Monro would not make a decision on the issue until today.

Contacted yesterday, Charles W. Dunn, Master of Quincy House, said that he had consulted with his Senior Common Room (the Master and faculty associates of the House) and that they had decided that no demonstrating should be permitted on House property.

Roses and Trees

Dunn said that the group decided that a demonstration would disturb members of the House and might damage University property. "We are trying to grow roses and trees in the courtyard," Dunn explained, "and there is a dangerous well that people might fall into."

There is also, Dunn continued, "the unexpected possibility that things will get out of hand, and that local people will harass the picketers."

Frank supported Dunn's reasoning and added that he was concerned that a demonstration might disrupt McNamara's discussion with the students selected last week. "I find it hard to believe that Harvard undergraduates will refuse a request from a university official," Frank said, "but then again maybe I'm being naive."

"If SDS can find no other legitimate channels for a protest in a University as liberal as this one," Frank continued, "it is simply a measure of their intellectual impotence."

Eric Lessinger '68 spokesman for SDS, said last night that in spite of faculty advice to the contrary, SDS plans to go ahead with the demonstration in Quincy House courtyard.

There is a good deal of confusion as to how "disruptive" the SDS protest will be. Lessinger explains that while the actual rally in the courtyard will not be disruptive, a direct confrontation with McNamara might be. Lessinger defined "disruptive" as some from of civil disobediance.

"We know the University would like the demonstration to go normally and smoothly, but with the Vietnam war escalating, we are no longer satisfied with normalcy," Lessinger added.

No demonstration has been planned for Eliot House, where McNamara will speak on Sunday. SDS will, however distribute leaflets containing questions to ask McNamara in the discussion.

John H. Finley, master of Eliot House, said last night that he objected to a rally within House grounds because it would subject students to pressure. "One of the jobs of the House officials," Finley continued, "is to make sure that a House (with a big H) is more like a house (with a small h).