Five Professors Sign Petition Supporting Affirmative Action

Five Harvard professors have signed a petition supporting affirmative action by universities to hire more women, blacks and other minorities.

The petition was circulated by the Committee for Affirmative Action in Universities, an organization formed recently to aid enforcement of the federal government's guidelines for such affirmative action.

The coordinator of the committee, Dr. Gertrude Ezorsky, told the New York Times Thursday that the committee was formed to counter charges that the Times Thursday that the committee was formed to counter charges that the affirmative action policy discriminates against white males and to encourage Washington to press forward with the policy.

Kenneth J. Arrow, professor of Economics, Daniel Bell, professor of Sociology, Wassily W. Leontief, Lee Professor of Economics, John Rawls, professor of Philosophy and James Vorenberg '49, professor of Law, are among hundreds of professors who have signed petitions circulated on the nation's campuses.

Leontief said yesterday that pressure for the academic hiring of women and minorities had to be increased "on some people." Leontief added, "Women and blacks really need assistance in this area."

Bell said yesterday that universities could do more for minority job applicants but that he opposed "reverse discrimination against qualified white male job applicants."

"I oppose 'quota tokenism' which is demeaning to women and blacks," Bell said.

Phyllis Keller, assistant dean and Equal Employment Opportunity Officer for the Faculty, said yesterday that Harvard does not use any quotas under its affirmative action plan.

Keller said that Harvard does have women and minority hiring targets. "We are quite close and in some cases in excese of our affirmative action goals for '75,076." Keller said yesterday