Employees Endorse Strike, Referendums Build Support

A group of University employees, a group of teaching fellows, all the Harvard Houses, and the freshman class voted at separate meetings yesterday to strike in support of the three demands approved at the mass meeting Monday night.

Approximately 350 University employees voted unanimously last night in Memorial Church to strike until 9 a.m. on Monday May 11. At that time they will reconvene to discuss further action.

Employees will picket their places of work today and will try, they said, to convince other employees to strike with them.

Their demands are:

That the United States government "unilaterally and immediately withdraw all forces from Southeast Asia;"

That the U.S. "end its systematic oppression of political dissidents, and release all political prisoners," including Bobby Seale and other members of the Back Panther Party;

That the University "immediately end defense research, ROTC, counter insurgency research, and all other such programs;"

Striking workers receive full pay and not lose their jobs.

John B. Butler, director of personnel, refused to guarantee last night that "the individual circumstances in each employees case would be judged." Butler doubted, however, that workers would lose their jobs if they refused to report to work in support of the strike.

The Harvard University Strike Steering Committee-which consists of representatives from Harvard College, from Radcliffe, from all the Harvard graduate schools, and from the striking employees' group-met last night in Straus Common Room and drew up a resolution demanding the following:

that the usual business of the University be terminated immediately and at least until the end of this aca-demic year so that members of the University community will be free to devote their time and energy to bringing an end to the war in Southeast Asia, to political repression, and to the University's complicity in the Vietnam War.

The Steering Committee was established at the mass meeting Monday night, and representatives were elected yesterday.

The only contested vote at the employees' meeting came on the demand that the U.S. end its systematic repression of political dissidents and prisoners, including Bobby Seale and other members of the Black Panther Party.

John E. Haley, a worker in Widener Library, asked "How can you release Bobby Seale automatically? He may be guilty. Are you going to release the Minutemen who are in jail, too?"

Ronald Capling, another University employee, responded, saying "You do not have to believe that Bobby Seale is innocent, but only that the courts are unfair. No court in this country could fairly judge the man."

Houses

In a college-wide referendum on the strike, all eight Harvard Houses voted last night to support the four strike demands, as did the Harvard freshman and the Radcliffe Houses.

At least three Harvard Houses-Leverett, Adams, and Quincy-passed the fourth demand in modified form, where-by students would have four choices regarding exams.

Those options included taking exams as scheduled; postponing exams until fall (for all students except graduating seniors); exempting students from exams with "pass" credit, and exempting students from exams with graded credit.

The freshman class, by a 384-321 margin, voted down the third demand concerning ROTC, defense research, and counter-insurgency research.

About 250 freshmen met at Lowell Lecture Hall earlier yesterday for two hours, and elected three representatives to the strike committee. The entire class overwhelmingly ratified the selections of the meeting in a referendum during dinner.

The Freshman Council did not sponsor the elections, but two of its members-David Russell and Wendell Wilkie-were named to the strike committee along with Erich Brandt.

The meeting of freshmen also passed by a slim margin a resolution condemning violent action by strikers.

At least one Harvard Square store has decided to close in support of the strike. Krackerjacks posted signs yesterday afternoon that said "We are closed in support of the strike." The manager said the store would remain closed indefinitely.