Ad Board Reconsidering Evidence For Dow Probation Judgments

The Administrative Board is rechecking to make sure that all students put on probation in connection with the Dow sit-in were actually present in the corridor of Mallinckrodt, Dean Glimp said yesterday.

"We want to be certain that we haven't mistakenly placed any student on probation," Glimp said. "If we find no evidence showing a student was there, the Board will lift probation--possibly at its next meeting on Tuesday."

The Board reinvestigation is having its greatest effect on students in Dudley House. On October 31, the Board voted to place 37 Dudley students on probation on the basis of their senior tutor's judgment that they were present in Mallinckrodt. In all other cases the Board required some positive evidence--eye-witness or photographic identification or self-incirminatory letters--to make its decision.

Last week Henry P. Kerr, Allston Burr Senior Tutor in Dudley, asked 20 Dudley students on probation to submit "explicit statements" to the Ad Board affirming their presence in the Mallinckrodt hallway.

Kerr has informed the students by letter that the Ad Board has become "increasingly uneasy with a position which I persuaded them to take, viz., to accept my judgment that certain men had participated in the obstruction of Mr. Leavitt."

"I would guess," the letter continued, "that the vote of 31 October will be rescinded in those instances in which I can offer no more than my opinion."

All of the students receiving Kerr's letter, however, have decided not to make any statement to the Board, Jonathan Harris '68 said last night.

'Resounding Silence'

"We will answer with a resounding silence," said Harris, coordinator for the Dudley group. "We see no reason to make the statement the Board needs to justify the arbitrary distinctions used in deciding who to place on probation; their so-called evidence is only an excuse to select a manageable number to put on pro," he said.

Only 6 of the 37 Dudley students put on probation were positively identified within Mallinckrodt. Thirty-one others signed a petition assuming responsibility for "obstructing Dr. Leavitt;" Kerr accepted this as evidence for their presence in the hallway.

In the past few weeks 5 or 6 Dudley students have been taken off probation after submitting letters to the Ad Board denying they were present in Mallinckrodt.