HUC Requests Open Dow Meeting

In a surprise move last night, the Harvard Undergraduate Council has asked the Chemistry department to open its proposed meeting with representatives of Dow Chemical to the University at large.

The Chemistry department faculty will meet today to consider a format for the public meeting with Dow that graduate students petitioned for last week. Several undergraduates have expressed concern that they might be denied any opportunity to question the Dow representative in an open forum.

The Council action, initiated by Alan M. Zaslavsky '69, carried by a clear-cut 9-1 margin.

In a loosely worded resolution, the HUC asked "that either undergraduates and other members of the Harvard community be admitted to the planned meeting with the Dow representative; or another meeting be scheduled open to the Harvard community which allows some form of questioning of the Dow representative."

Although Dow Chemical is scheduled to recruit undergraduates through the Office for Graduate and Career Plans early next spring, HUC members feared that any type of semi-open meeting this fall would preclude a second meeting involving undergraduates when Dow returns later.

"It is important that we go on record now as saying we want a meeting," said Martin R. Rosenthal '68, "If we don't Dow might come back in February and tell us that they've already spoken at Harvard."

"Dow's activities are not a technical question," Lance E. Lindblom '70 said in support of the resolution, "but a moral question about the war that undergraduates can speak on just as well as Chemistry students."

Stephan H. Kaplan '69, president of the HUC, agreed with Lindblom but questioned whether this was an appropriate issue for the undergraduate council. "Morally you are right," he said," this is a vital issue to every member of the Harvard community, but it might be more effective to leave the decision up to the chemistry department which set up the meeting."