Hillel President Says Rebate Plan Is Inadequate for Kosher Students

Jay R. Rothstein '71, president of Harvard Hillel, charged yesterday that the University administration has been "inconsistent and unfair" in its decision to grant only limited meal rebates to kosher students for the upcoming Passover holiday.

The new board plan of the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life allows rebates on only the first and last days of the holiday-April 20 and 27-although kosher students must eat at Hillel for all eight days of Passover.

The Committee passed the plan-which also grants rebates to other students for a certain number of meals per week-at a special meeting last Wednesday, after the November Action Coalition (NAC) demanded that rebates be sent to the Black Panther Party.

May told members of Hillel on April 10 that the Committee could not consider rebates for kosher students until its regular meeting next month, Rothstein said.

"A year and a half of reasoned arguments has not accomplished for koshereating students what five minutes of threats have done for NAC," he added.

May said yesterday that the 550 petition signatures gathered by NAC was a factor in his decision to call a special meeting of the Committee.

He added that the committee intended to implement the experiment next month anyway. NAC affected "the timing of the meeting but not the outcome," May said.