Alumnus Warns Parents About Sex At Harvard

Continuing his one-man crusade to fight the alleged "spread of collegesponsored depravity," a 1966 Harvard alumnus has sent letters to parents of male undergraduates warning that their sons are in imminent danger of becoming "pederasts" and "sodomists."

In a 12-page mailing, titled "An Appeal to Parents," Martin S. Wishnatsky refers to Harvard as " a bath house on the Charles" where "dildos are hung up to dry and sexually 'disoriented' students begin another day in the land of 'wrong is right' morality."

The mailing, which comes about six months after Wishnatsky sent hundreds of undergraduates antiabortion pamphlets, mainly attacks the University's allowance of gay and lesbian organizations.

It is still unclear how many letters Wishnatsky mailed, as parents of many first-year students and some upper-class students continue to receive the bulk mailing.

Wishnatsky, reached at his Hoboken, N.J. home Wednesday night, would not say how much the mailing cost or where he obtained home addresses. He said that his packets were intended as "private communications" to alert parents about the lack of moral direction at the University.

A self-described born-again Christian andcomputer programmer, Wishnatsky last fall sent tomore than 400 Harvard dormitory rooms packetscontaining photographs of aborted fetuses andcartoons of developing babies being sliced withknives.

In his recent letter, Wishnatsky asks parentsif "it is worth $18,000 a year" for theirdaughters to become "lesbians" or for their sonsto "practice sodomy in a dormitory on the CharlesRiver."

Top Harvard administrators, including PresidentDerek C. Bok, Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett'57 and members of the Administrative Board werenotified of the letter's contents early this week,said Senior Advisor Keith W. Frome.

"I brought it to their attention because I feltthat the letter...could be taken in a harmful wayby some freshmen," Frome said. "Most may laugh itoff, but some may be hurt by it."

Dean of First-Year Students Henry C. Moses saidyesterday that for now the FDO has instructedsenior advisors to inform students about theletter, and to counsel any students or parentsconfused or offended by its contents.

Jewett said the College may send a formalcommunication home if parental reaction growsstronger.

The Wishnatsky letters were addressed tofathers only, in envelopes marked with stamps thatread "Veritas--is your son worth it?" parents andstudents said. The packets were mailed bulk ratein 9"x11" manilla envelopes.

Administrators speculated that Wishnatskyobtained mailing information from class registers.The FDO does not release names and addresses ofstudents.

The alumnus said he chose mainly to targetfirst-years because they "seem the mostvulnerable."

He said that he realized "how far the moraldrift had drifted" at Harvard last year uponobtaining a copy of the Commencement issue of TheCrimson. Having learned of the University'ssupport of gay and lesbian organizations on campusand its policies prohibiting ROTC, Wishnatsky saidhe felt it was his "moral responsibility" tocommunicate his concerns to parents.

"If I were to say nothing, I would be morallycomplicit in what is happening there," Wishnatskysaid.

A magna cum laude graduate in Government whoclaims also to have a doctorate from Harvard inpolitical science, Wishnatsky said he was a formerresident tutor in Quincy House.

"I never received any moral instruction as anundergrad--I never even heard any mention of it,"Wishnatsky said Wednesday. "It's like God wasexcommunicated from Harvard."

John J. Scocca, a parents of a first-year malestudent who received Wishnatsky's letteryesterday, said he thought the letter was "kind ofstrange," but that he did not think parents or theUniversity should take it too seriously.

"I don't see why Harvard should waste timereplaying to this. My son's proctor said to callher if we had any questions--that seems to bereasonable," Scocca said from his Maryland home.

But Wishnatasky said the mailing was his lastand that he had "fulfilled his obligation." Thealumnus, however, made the same statement afterhis abortion mailing last fall