N.E. Campus Referendum Reveals 84% Want Vietnam De-escalation

In the referendum on Vietnam conducted at 19 universities in the northeastern U.S., 84 per cent of those polled voted in favor of de-escalation.

The over-all vote of 21,000 students, faculty, and administration members who were polled was less dovish than the Harvard vote, released last Thursday, in which 90 per cent favored de-escalation.

The results of the 21-question referendum revealed the following:

* Only 8.9 per cent expressed confidence in President Johnson's handling of the war.

* Ninety-two per cent said that the statement, "Americans who disagree with the Administration's policy should not refrain from speaking out even at the risk of undermining the morale of our own troops and encouraging the enemy," came closest to their view.

* Seventy-two per cent said that "the war is not worth it, when it is considered in terms of the damage it does weighed against the benefits we can expect to gain."

* About two-thirds said the Vietcong "represent a genuine internal movement" and thus the war is a civil war.

The Harvard students and Faculty members who organized the referendum said they were particularly surprised by the dovish stance of students at Emmanuel College a small Roman Catholic girl's school in Boston, where over 70 per cent said they favored de-escalation.