Jury Duty

At least four Harvard students received letters from Middlesex County yesterday summoning them to jury duty under an experimental procedure in this county.

Students will no longer be class exemptions from jury duty here as of January 2, the Secretary of State's Citizen Information Service said yesterday.

The county randomly chooses prospective jurors from street lists of everyone who is at least 17 years old. However, only persons eligible to vote in this county may be empaneled on a jury.

Donna M. Leconte, secretary to the Cambridge jury administrator, said yesterday under the new method jurors come in for one day or one trial.

"You come in that day and if you're not empaneled, you can go home," she said. Jurors used to be on call for four weeks, she added.

Stan R. Frankel '80 said yesterday he received a summons even though he is registered to vote in Illinois. He said he must prove his Illinois residency to qualify for exemption or face a $1000 fine.

Archie C. Epps III, dean of students, said yesterday he will try to find a way to make the process less inconvenient for Harvard students.

"I will turn the situation over to our community affairs office on Monday," Epps said. "I'll try to get a response out of them as soon as possible."