ROTC Re-Vote Set for Sunday

A slim majority of students said they support a recent Undergraduate Council resolution calling on Harvard to bring the Reserve Officers Training Corps back on campus without academic credit, according to an unscientific Crimson poll conducted yesterday.

But a solid majority of students polled said that they would oppose ROTC's return if Harvard decided to grant academic credit for military courses.

One hundred forty-five students were polled, and statistics were corrected so that each of the four undergraduate classes were represented equally.

Fifty percent of students polled said they supported the council resolution, and 40 percent said they opposed it. Sixty-five percent of students said they would oppose the return of ROTC if it were granted academic credit, while only 28 percent said they would still support it.

Activists have charged that Sunday night's decision to call for the reinstitution of ROTC violated a provision in the council's constitution that obligates it to oppose discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The armed forces have an explicit policy of barring gays and lesbians from service.

Contrary to activists' claims, however, students polled said they would be less likely to support ROTC if it reversed its discriminatory policy than if the policy remained unaltered. Only 46 percent said they would support a non-discriminatory ROTC, while 50 percent said they would support it unchanged.

And 66 percent of students polled said they would support ROTC's return if it did not discriminate and if academic credit were not offered.

The council will vote tomorrow night on a series of five resolutions which may repeal, modify or leave intact they original decision.

Four of the proposals, all recommended by theServices Committee, would: repeal the originalresolution, make ROTC's return contingent upon itschange, forbid granting military instructorsfaculty tenure and require that all new campusorganizations comply with Harvard'santidiscrimination policies.

A fifth resolution would condemn the military'sdiscrimination, but would not make ROTC's returncontingent upon its change