Soldiers' Field

YESTERDAY'S MASS meeting in soldiers' Field was a victory for the people of the Harvard community who are now striking to fight ROTC and expansion, and to win black studies and a restructuring of the University.

The meeting was not a victory because a majority of those present supported continuing the strike. The group at Soldiers' Field was not competent to decide whether the strike should continue, since it included people who did not support the demands which the strike is designed to win. If the strike had "lost" yesterday, it would still not have ended. The strike will not end until the people who support the strike demands decide to end it.

Yesterday's meeting was important, rather, because it clearly indicated the extent of community support for the radical demands and for the strike. Of the six thousand people voting at Soldiers' Field, an overwhelming majority voted to demand that Harvard stop dealing with ROTC. The same majority demanded a meaningful back studies program at Harvard, a restructuring of the decision-making process within the University, and a set of socially conscious policies toward the local community outside of Harvard.

And some 2800 of the people at soldiers' Field declared their willingness to strike until these demands are won.

Thus the soldiers' field meeting had dramatically shown that a massive constituency for radical change at Harvard does exist. There are some differences of opinion and of emphasis within this constituency, but such differences are not fundamental, and they can be worked