Students Organize On Nukes

A group of Harvard students is coordinating a campaign in 27 selected congressional districts nationwide designed to involve constituents in the ongoing debate over nuclear arms. The effort stems from growing student interest at Harvard in nuclear arms-related issues organizers said yesterday.

With the help of alumni and political activists living in the districts, Harvard Students for Social Responsibility (HSSR) has begun distributing information booklets detailing ways in which local residents can voice their opinions on arms policy to politicians and government defense experts.

Under the so-called Swing District Project, HSSR has targeted the districts of 27 members of the House Appropriations Committee who the students say have taken no clear stand on the arms issue. The appropriations panel is responsible for allocating funds for arms programs, among other government activities.

HSSR founder Robert Sorscher '83 said the group will not take sides on the issue of arms production or deployment but will try to help people express their views to their congressmen, regardless of their position.

Nuclear Advice

The group's booklet includes advice on how to write an effective letter to a congressman arrange to testify before a congressional committee, and use the media to express an opinion.

The Harvard group, consisting of 200 members, and other groups which have formed on college campuses in the last year, are an indication that college students have begun to play a role in educating themselves and others on the issue of nuclear arms

But some long-time activists have called this student involvement long overdue. Recalling the heavy student activism of the 1960, some older activists have complained about a general lack of political commitment among students.

Sleepy' Students

"College students have been unusually sleepy on this issue." Dr. HelenCaldicott, one of the most vocal opponents of nuclear arms, said recently.Caldicott, president of the Boston-based. Physicians for Social Responsibility, said that the high school and even the elementary school students she meets during her national speaking tours seem more aware of the nuclear threat than college students.

While Caldicott volunteered no explanation for this discrepancy. Dr.Bernard Lown, a Harvard professor and the president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War said that self interest has traditionally motivated campus activism. Referring to the 1960s peace protests, Lown said. "The moment the draft stopped, the anti-warmovement began to abate."

Jay Hamilton '83 currently organizing a fall conference on nuclear arms for area student leaders sponsored by Harvard's Institute of Politics (IOP), agreed yesterday with Lown's assessment. Hamilton pointed out that European students, who in the past several years have led a vocalanti-nuclear movement on that continent, only became interested when politician began talking about the possibility of limited nuclear war in their homelands.

Michael T. Anderson '83, who is working for the anti-nuclear group Nuclear Network in Washington. DC this summer said that many studentsare far more concerned with professional school and careers than withpolitics.

Despite limited numbers and a late start student activists have said they will have an effect, especially by channeling their efforts towards this year's congressional elections.

The IOP conference, scheduled for October, will address ways in which students can make nuclear arms a major issue in the 1982 elections. The convention, still in the planning stage will feature forums on arms issues and advisory sessions on organizing political activity on campus.

In the meantime, the Institute will host a series of forums, includinga debate between Sens. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D Mass) and Gordon Humphrey (R.N.H.) on July 7.

The following night, caldicott will speak at the Institute