The Spirit Of Activism Returns

The rain seemed to have little effect on the 120 demonstrators who picketed in front of the OGCP office for an hour yesterday afternoon, protesting the presence of a Honeywell recruiter at Harvard.

It was the first such action at Harvard since 1972, when black students took over Massachusetts Hall. And to some extent, it seemed to refute media reports that student activism here and at colleges across the nation has sputtered and died away.

The crowd began its vigil at the OGCP offices on Dunster St., then moved into the Yard and stood in front of University Hall chanting, "Honeywell out of Harvard!" Their shouts drew a few bespectacled faces to the windows, but no other response from either administrators or OGCP officials.

But that is not what they were there for. Many of yesterday's demonstrators said they considered the issue of University response less important than the positive effect of a demonstration in raising an anti-war, anti-weaponry consciousness among undergraduates--two classes of which had not seen a protest since their arrival at Harvard.

Honeywell manufactures bombs used by the United States during the Vietnam War, and now sold to the Thieu regime. Company spokesmen claim that Honeywell is "a customer of the Defense Department," and that the implementation of their products is beyond the company's control. The protesters charge that Honeywell is an accomplice to genocide, and that its representatives are not welcome at Harvard.

Yesterday's demonstration echoes those of past years. In February 1972, about 50 demonstrators confronted the director of OGCP to demand a justification of Marine recruiters at the University. The protesters, milling inside the building after the recruiter had left, were told that a 1968 Faculty resolution requires the OGCP to "make its facilities available to the broadest possible range of organizations offering information relevant to the future and career plans of Harvard and Radcliffe students."

And the Marines came back. In February 1973, nine SDS members failed to confront a Marine recruiter at the OGCP. They said they wanted only to ask the recruiter some "pointed questions" about the role of the Marines, but dispersed when a receptionist told them the recruiter's schedule was full.

Last Friday, a Marine recruiter came to the OGCP and met with one student. There were no demonstrators.

Whether yesterday's action is an isolated action or the beginning of a new trend is difficult to determine, but may become more clear when Vice President Gerald Ford comes to Cambridge March 11. It's been a warm winter, but may become a hotter spring.