CUE Recommends ROTC Clarification

The Committee on Undergraduate Education recommended yesterday that the Faculty permit two Harvard students to cross-register at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in order to take a Reserve Officer Training Corps course, a member of CUE said yesterday.

Anne DeHayden Neal '77 said that CUE also suggested that the Faculty clarify legislation it passed in 1969 ending all ROTC programs in the University and decide whether that ruling prohibits the cross-registration of Harvard students in ROTC programs.

Dean Whitlock, who is handling the ROTC petition from Steven Peck '79 and another unnamed student, said last night that the CUE recommendation will be sent to the Faculty Council for reconsideration before it is considered by the full Faculty, Faculty.

The council considered the two petitions at a meeting earlier this month when the Committee for Administration of Educational Policy (CAEP) reported that allowing the two students to cross-register in MIT's non-credit ROTC program would be a violation of the 1969 ruling, John B. Fox Jr. '59, secretary to the council, said yesterday.

Fox said the council then advised Peck and the other student to take their cases to CUE "if they wanted to pursue the matter."

Fox, who is a member of CAEP, said that the committee decided that since a ROTC course taken by cross-registration at MIT will appear on a student's Harvard transcript, "that seemed a violation of the Faculty's 1969 vote."

When reached at his Weston home last night, Peck, who is a commuter, said he wanted to participate in the ROTC program at MIT for financial reasons.

"ROTC offers a three-year scholarship which pays full tuition each year plus $1000," he said. Though Peck is not now on scholarship, he said, he is "having a hard time trying to meet this year's tuition."

Peck said he thinks that whether a student participates in ROTC or not is a personal choice and not one of politics or one infringing on anyone else's rights.

"I don't want to put a big ROTC building in the middle of Harvard Yard with American flags and lots of little tanks running around," he said.

"We're not asking for credit for a military course and we're not asking for ROTC on campus," he said. "To me it's a matter of personal freedom of choice and I'm interested in ROTC.