CRR Hears Appeal of Student Found Guilty of Harassment

A student representing Bonnie E. Blustein "72 contended Friday before a hearing panel of the Committee on Rights and Responsibilities (CRR) that it had convicted her last June of harassing Sargent Kennedy '28, former secretary of the Corporation, on the basis of insufficient evidence.

About 12 persons, including Blustein, followed Kennedy for about 10 minutes last May 26, chanting "Murderer" and shouting at him through a bullhorn. This occurred after an SDS demonstration protesting the University's inaction following the drowning of two children in Harvard-owned "Muddy Pond" in Jamaica Plain.

Strike Three

Kennedy filed charges with the CRR against three of the students--Blustein, Ira D. Helfand "72, and Joseph Rothchild '74. The committee voted to separate each of them from the University for a year.

The evidence against Blustein consisted of a written statement by University policeman Larry T. Murphy in which he said he "saw (her) in the group" but "was too far away to determine whether or not (she) was shouting."

Ditto

A similar statement by Murphy constituted the sole evidence against Helfand.

The CRR granted Blustein a rehearing after it learned that the reason she did not attend her original hearing in June was that she had left Cambridge before receiving the committee's letter telling her that she had been charged with harassing Kennedy.

Blustein did not attend Friday's hearing, either; Helfand represented her.

Never on Monday

Charles W. Burnham, professor of Mineralogy and chairman of the CRR, said yesterday that the committee will announce later this week its final decision on Blustein.