More Than 1000 Made a Request

Chapter One:

More than 1000 students rallied in Harvard Yard Monday, expressing their dissatisfaction with the Corporation's decision to delay the announcement of its report on University holdings in U.S. companies operating in South Africa.

President Bok, in his only public confrontation of the week, crossed the Yard and tried to enter his Mass Hall offices, only to be stopped by students who demanded that he answer their questions about the Corporation's meeting.

Bok then strolled through Johnston Gate into Harvard Square, a rigid smile on his face, as students pushed around him, yelling their disapproval. They then tried to block the Harvard police cruiser that whipped down Mass Ave to pick up Bok and whisk him away, but were shoved aside by University policemen.

That night, Daniel Steiner '54, general counsel to the University, said that "appropriate action" might be taken against the students who blocked Bok's entry.

Attempts to identify the students involved continued through the week, but Steiner said Thursday that no students had yet been identified.

Students at Monday's demonstration were not thinking about their own well-being, however. Although only 200 participated in the march from the Quad to the Yard, four times that many joined the rally in front of Pusey Library to protest the oppression of South Africa's blacks.

Administration officials, sitting behind the guarded and locked doors of University and Massachusetts Halls, moved to continued security precautions as memories of past student demonstrations at Harvard, and recent building occupations at Northeast colleges, added to the tension.

Luthut Ragin Jr. '76, a United Front member and freshman proctor, told the chanting crowd, "I think it's fair to say that on Monday, April 24, 1978, the Harvard student body has exploded the myth that there exists a pervasive apathy and an apolitical attitude on campus."

United Front members then entered Holyoke Center, where they dropped leaflets, talked to employees and left hundreds of messages for Lawrence F. Stevens '65, secretary to the ACSR.

After the rally broke up, a crowd of 100 students cornered Dean Fox and Archie C. Epps III, dean of students, near University Hall, peppering them with questions, comments and occasional insults.

Monday night marked the end of the beginning, as a core of protesters set up camp outside University Hall, beginning their week-long vigil and awaiting the Corporation's decision.