Medical Students Protest Harvard's Housing Policy

More than 40 students and faculty members at the Med School "milled-in" for half an hour yesterday afternoon in the office of Dr. Robert H. Ebert, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, to demonstrate against Ebert's alleged failure to "act positively" on a set of demands made by tenants of Harvard-owned buildings in the Medical School area.

Ebert had left his office before the demonstration began.

At the end of the mill in, the protestors left Ebert a statement endorsing the tenants' demands and asked his secretary to have him sign it. They decided to reconvene in Ebert's office at 1 p.m. today to ascertain his response and discuss further action.

Last night, Ebert said that he would not sign the statement-which would have committed him to using his influence to see the demands granted-because, he said, "the most appropriate people for the University to deal with are the tenants themselves."

The Demands

Last month, the Roxbury Tenants of Harvard Association had requested the speedy rental of presently vacant Harvard-owned apartments, the immediate repair of safety hazards in the buildings, and the replacement of Harvard's realtor, Hunneman and Co., with an agent of the tenants' choosing.

After a tour of University-owned housing Jan. 6, Ebert said that he agreed in principle with the requests and would recommend that the Corporation accede to them.

The tenants had also asked for a progress report by Jan. 9. That day, Ebert said that the requests had been "forwarded to the responsible University authorities." and that he planned "to make another inspection of those properties to assure myself that these conditions have been corrected."

The tenants said that they considered the report "unsatisfactory."