Strike Steering Committee Issues Condemnation of Administration

(The Harvard University Strike Steering Committee issued the following statement last night.)

The Strike Steering Committee wishes to note two actions taken by the University on Monday that reemphasize Harvard's determination to oppose the spirit and the letter of the four strike demands.

In response to the militant picket line around University Hall to implement the demand to pay striking workers with no reprisals, Dean May's office sent letters implying disciplinary action to 40 demonstrators. The University's selection of these forty from the hundreds involved in that action is indicative of the political repression directed against the students most vigorously involved in the implementation of the second and fourth strike demands.

In essential violation of the Faculty's proposal concerning grades, the Office of the Registrar demonstrated the University's intention force many students to fulfill normal exam and paper requirements. Some students have been notified that work to date (including passing hour exams) indicates that they are all "failing."

The Registrar indicated that some students will not be told of their pass-fail status, and it is reported that the History Department has ruled that pass grades will not count for concentration credit and that students not taking exams will not be considered as having done sufficient work to receive a letter grade.

The Strike Steering Committee interprets these developments as additional evidence that the University is not supportative of the strike, is in fact poised in active opposition to the demands and logistics of the strike, and is in no way a viable ally of the Harvard striking community.