RIOT BILL SIGNED

President Johnson Wednesday signed into law the 1968 Higher Education Act, which includes an amendment cutting off federal aid to students who participate in campus disorders.

The act authorizes $7.3 billion in federal aid to private and public universities through 1971. Under the so-called "anti-riot" amendment, students who fail to obey a lawful order of university authorities or are convicted of a crime involving seizure of university property will lose federal aid for two years, if a university hearing finds the offense "contributed to substantial disruption of an institution's administration."

More Lenient

This amendment is considered the more lenient of two "anti-riot" amendments approved by the Congress this fall, since it leaves university administrators--not government officials--with most of the power to decide who will lose federal aid.

The second, tougher "anti-riot" amendment--attached to the Labor-Health, Education and Welfare Appropriations Bill--makes no provision for a university hearing. This measure will be sent to the White House as soon as the House and Senate resolve a disagreement on an unrelated section of the appropriations bill.

The measure just signed will affect more than 1.4 million students--one fourth of all college students in the country--who are now receiving about $1 billion a year in federal loans, fellowships payments, scholarships, and work-study grants.

About 1200 to 1500 Harvard students received $1.2 million of the federal money, according to Peter K. Gunness '57, director of federal aid.

The anti-riot amendments were first introduced last May, shortly after the disorders at Columbia University.