COERCION?

To the Editors of The Crimson:

We, the undersigned residents of North House, would like to protest The Crimson's distortion of the North House brunch boycott in support of Sherman Holcombe, suspended shop steward for the Radcliffe dining halls.

The Crimson's article gave many people the false impression that boycott supporters had somehow threatened or physically obstructed other North House students. It quoted one student as saying that they knew of students whose decision to boycott had not been made of their "own free will," and another as referring to "unpleasant pressures." Apparently The Crimson did not bother to ask how anyone's free will had been interfered with, or what these "pressures" consisted of beyond presenting arguments about why people should support Mr. Holcombe and the boycott.

To give big play to such false charges without investigating whether or not they are true is very irresponsible journalism. In fact, a large majority of students in North House feel that Harvard is discriminating against Sherman Holcombe because of his union activity. We hope that The Crimson will be more careful in the future. Walter Carlip   Peter S. Hogness   Sue Thiemann   Gary Conroy   Thomas W. Barber   Jeffrey K. Griffiths   Diane Sperling   Gustavo Buntinx   Cathy Perlmutter   Reed Sutherland   Ellen Kelman   David Johnson   Peter Liepmann   Emily Cahan   Marcella Calabi   A.W. Merrill   Adele Peskin