The Witchhunt Begins Today

TODAY the CRR will meet to hear the first charges against 24 students charged with having shouted and clapped at the pro-war "Counter Teach-In" held by Students for a Just Peace in Sanders Theatre March 26. Those who have observed the CRR in action before know what to expect in the latest round of trials: the same shoddy evidence, vague testimony, slipshod procedures, and indifference to truth which have characterized the CRR during its short, checkered history will surface again today.

The House votes earlier this term make unmistakably clear the attitude of Harvard and Radcliffe students toward the CRR: not one House voted to send representatives. The Administration's response also makes clear how important it considers participation by under-graduates in decisions about discipline: the CRR is proceeding to judge the 24-primarily under-graduates-without a single undergraduate representative.

The problems of the CRR run deeper than a mere lack of undergraduate inquisitors. As defined by the Resolution on Rights and Responsibilities and its own statement on procedures, the CRR is not an impartial body seeking to dispense justice; it is an Administration hangman, less concerned with fairness than with efficiency, seeking not truth but a high kill-ratio.

THE PRESENT members of the CRR have during this year made clear their desire to overstep even the loose boundaries which the Faculty drew for them. During readmission hearings this Fall, the CRR took it upon itself to inquire about students' political beliefs and sex lives-over neither of which the Committee has jurisdiction. Two weeks ago the Committee released a decision in the case of Allen S. Weinrub, a graduate student accused of conspiring at a meeting to commit a disruption which never took place. Although it acquitted Weinrub, the CRR made plain in its decision that it feels free to judge defendants' beliefs, thoughts, and intent, even though they may commit no actions which could legitimately be punished.

After the House votes early this semester, the CRIMSON called for a Faculty reconsideration of the Resolution on Rights and Responsibilities, including a general amnesty for those convicted by the CRR and institution of an all-student disciplinary body. We believe this suggestion is still valid. We believe the present trials should stop. The charges should never have been brought; the present CRR is unfit to hear any charges at all.