SDS Asking Open Meeting For Faculty ROTC Debate

Students for a Democratic Society's Anti-ROTC Committee today is sending an open letter to Dean Ford demanding that the Dec. 12 Faculty meeting--where ROTC's fate at Harvard may be decided--be open to all students.

Two weeks ago SDS members asked Dean Ford if they could attend the last Faculty meeting, which was slated to hear a discussion of the ROTC issue. At that time he replied that they could not attend because they did not have University appointments.

In today's letter committee members wrote: "ROTC is not just a Faculty issue--any decision about ROTC has direct consequences for all members of the University and for those people around the world oppressed by the U.S. military." The letter was drafted yesterday at a meeting held in Phillips Brooks House to consider proposals for action concerning the Faculty's upcoming session.

Report Tuesday

The committee members will present all the proposals considered yesterday to a full SDS meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

The letter also states that the students "demand a definitive vote on the Faculty stand by the end of the Dec. 12 meeting."

The group then discussed the volatile issue of whether students should, if their request is again denied, try to enter the Faculty meeting anyway. The members present decided to postpone any decision on this issue until Dec. 11 when they would be in a better position to judge the extent of their student support.

One member present at yesterday's meeting, which was conducted by Jonathan M. Harris '69, said that they believed Faculty support for the SDS position was growing around a plan to abolish academic credit for ROTC and perhaps deny the use of University buildings. This would allegedly abolish ROTC.

Less Optimistic

Other members were less optimistic. They stated that if the Faculty did not vote down their proposal, it might form a committee to investigate ROTC, in effect postponing the decision so that no change would take place in the spring semester.

The Dec. 12 meeting is "a real lastchance saloon," one member said. A rally was scheduled tentatively for 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Memorial Hall.