Northeastern Students May Strike If List of Demands Is Rejected

Northeastern University students may stage a strike if NU president Asa S. Knowles does not accept a list of 13 student demands by Thursday.

A coalition of Northeastern students who call themselves the Students Concerned Committee (SCC) presented the demands to Knowles' office last Friday, and said they would give Knowles one week to accept or reject all the demands before the SCC called for general student action.

A SCC spokesman said the group was made up of members of Northeastern's SDS and Afro-American society, along with dissident student council members.

Announcing the demands at a Friday news conference, a SCC member said "the Administrators of this University have underrated the intelligence of their students to evaluate the faculty and administrative policies...It is time to let them know that the student body is concerned about themselves and their relationship to the University."

Northeastern, with 17,000 day students and a total enrollment of 40,000, has been rapidly expanding in the last few years. It has also been changing from a commuter to a residential college, and this is the root of much of the student dissatisfaction.

The list of demands includes:

* Student participation on all committees dealing with tuition, tenure, fiscal policy, faculty dismissal, and "all other decision-making that students consider important."

* Distribution of birth control information by the University health service (a violation of Massachusetts state law).

* Student representation on the board of trustees and the president's advisory council.

* Liberalization of rules governing off-campus living.