Draft Law Report Assures Seniors Of Uninterrupted Academic Year

Seniors now classified 1-A will be able to remain in college until the end of the academic year, according to a newsletter issued by the Office for Graduate and Career Plans.

Based on correspondence with the Washington office of General Lewis B. Hershey, director of Selective Service, the newsletter discusses the effect of the new draft laws on Harvard students. It warns that many seniors will find themselves drafted after graduation and encourages them to "investigate the various options for military service."

One source of confusion remains the issue of graduate school and occupational deferments. The Selective Service Act of 1967 states that "needed professional and scientific personnel and those engaged in, and preparing for, critical skills and other essential occupations" will be granted deferment.

The Interagency Advisory Committee is presently at work in Washington to clarify the implications of the new act. Medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, osteopathy, and optometry have already been judged "essential."

The newsletter is the work of John W. Fox Jr., director of the Graduate Office. At the request of Dean Glimp, Fox undertook the study in early October to determine the draft status of Harvard students.

Yesterday Fox added a clarification of the III-A deferment. Students classified II-S who did not request II-S deferment in September my be granted III-A on the basis of fatherhood, Fox said.