Over 700 Sign NAC's Petition To Back OBU

Between 700 and 800 people have signed a petition sponsored by the November Action Committee (NAC) supporting the Organization for Black Unity (OBU).

NAC has circulated the petition-which calls for the acceptance and implementation to OBU's five demands and termination of any punishment proceedings against OBU demonstrators and sympathizers-in an attempt to enlist student, Faculty and employee backing for OBU.

David C. Plotke '71, head of the weeklong petition drive, said he planned to present the signatures to Harvard officials. However, he also said that any future action taken by NAC would depend on OBU's Jead. Plotke added that the apathy created by the exam period would probably postpone any unified movement until early February.

University 'Evasive'

Like OBU leaders, Plotke termed the University's actions as "evasive." He said that Harvard officials had contradicted themselves by offering a quota regulating hiring practices when earlier they had rejected any type of quota, from OBU or anyone else. The University's claim that 9.3 per cent of the population of Boston and Cambridge is made up of minority groups is probably only half of the actual current figure, Plotke said.

Rally Tonight

Plotke said he believes that a number of NAC members would attend the rally that SDS will hold at 7:30 tonight in Sanders Theatre.

SDS, protesting the fact that sixteen students have been severed from the University and forty more face discipline, announced that only a massive struggle can prevent Harvard's "racist hiring policies." At the rally this evening, painters and "painters' helpers" are featured as speakers on Harvard's employment practices.