Yogurt Price Protester Is Arrested

University police arrested a Harvard student on the steps of Lehman Hall yesterday for selling pints of yogurt in a one-man protest against the food prices of the Dudley House cafeteria.

Jared K. Rossman '71 of Dudley House, dressed in white overalls and a sandwichboard reading "Poor University Students Enjoy Yogurt (P.U.S.E.Y)," began at noon to hawk pint cartons of yogurt for 28 cents. Rossman claimed local grocers purchased the yogurt in wholesale lots for 23 cents a piece while Dudley House charges 45 cents for a carton of yogurt.

A crowd of about 50 students had gathered outside Lehman when Russell S. Carr, manager of Dudley House Dining Hall, jostled Rossman, kicked his placard down the stairs, and ordered him off University property. (Harvard rules forbid vending on campus). When Rossman refused to withdraw, Carr attempted to confiscate his box of about a dozen yogurt cartoons. Rossman demanded remuneration, and Carr retreated to call the University police.

Minutes later, when patrolman number 23 arrived on the scene, Carr had reemerged from Lehman and seized Rossman's bursars card. The officer escorted Rossman to police headquarters and then to Dean Watson's office, where he was released pending Watson's return. University police officials refused to identify the officer.

Watson would not disclose what disciplinary action--if any--will be taken against Rossman, who on Tuesday also gave his bursars card to Carr for painting a construction fence in front of Lehman.

"Yogurt is a nice symbol for me," said Rossman, who claims that selling yogurt and fence painting grew out of his work in Soc Rel 136--a new course on the student's role in the University. "Why should a non-profit institution like Harvard make 96 percent on Yogurt when a grocer makes only 22 per cent?"

C. Graham Hurlbut Jr., director of University food services, said yesterday that the Dudley House cafeteria--like the House dining halls--operates on a non-profit basis. He estimated that the charge for lunch in a House dining hall is about 94 cents per day ($1.35 by the meal) compared to the 85 cents allotted to students for noon meals in Dudley.

"If they want to kick me out of school for this protest," Rossman said, "then I don't want to be here."