Republicans Caution, but Uphold 'We Won't Go' Draft Resisters

The Harvard Republican Club took a gentle slap last night at the Harvard men who have publicly announced that they will not do military service while the U.S. is fighting in Vietnam.

In a resolution that passed unanimously, the executive committee of the club said it could not condone anyone's breaking any law simply because he didn't agree with it.

"If those men don't agree with the draft or think there should be select objection to the Vietnam war, they should work through our representative institutions to change the law," Jay B. Stephens '68, president of the club, said last night.

The resolution, however, drew a distinction between threatening to break the law and actually breaking it. In fact, the Republicans upheld the "We Won't Go' announcement as a legitimate expression of dissent.

Good Tactic

Stephen viewed a public announcement of defiance as a good political tactic to organize support to try to change the law. The resolution suggested that a volunteer army or alternative service might be a good substitute for the present draft law.

He emphasized that his organization objected only when the group stopped seeking to change the law and started simply breaking it.

Stephens was critical of an earlier Young Democrat resolution which admired the courage of the draft resisters. "We admire their courage, too," he said. "But it's not their courage that's at issue."

The YD's stopped short of considering whether or not "their courage is being expended in the right direction when they break the law," he concluded.