Faculty Holds Off on ROTC Debate

The full Faculty of Arts and Sciences will not discuss the recommendations of the student-faculty committee on ROTC before the presidential election, officials said yesterday.

With Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton's promise, if elected, to end the military's ban on gays, any stand the University takes on the issue could be rendered moot after November 3.

In protest of the military's ban on gays, the committee recommended that the University stop reimbursing MIT for the costs of Harvard students cross-registered in their ROTC program. But it also recommended that Harvard continue accepting ROTC scholarships.

Secretary of the Faculty John B. Fox Jr. '59 said the report will not be discussed by a full gathering of the Faculty until the Faculty Council has formed an opinion on the committee's recommendations. The council did not vote on the report at its meeting yesterday.

The report will not be discussed at the next full FAS meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, October 20. The Faculty Council's next scheduled meeting is on October 28. Even if the council were to vote on the report at that meeting, the report will not appear on the docket of a full FAS meeting for discussion until November 10.

The delay appears to echo the sentiments of President Neil L. Rudenstine, who said earlier this week that Harvard should not "peg this issue" on a national election.

"I know what [Clinton] said, and I don't disbelieve him," said Rudenstine. "But you never know what's going to happen in the dynamics of national politics."

If Clinton is elected, and does not strike down the ban on gays within the first several months of his presidency, the University may have time to make a meaningful stand.

In other business, the council heard a report from Fox, who also serves as administrative dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, on thenew Teaching Fellow placement office.

The office was implemented this year inresponse to concerns expressed by faculty membersand graduate students that there were sectionswithout available teaching fellows, and also thatthere were teaching fellows without sections.

The council also discussed a Report of theCommittee on Information Technology, chaired byDean of the Division of Arts and Sciences Paul C.Martin '52. The report, which calls for morecoordination of FAS computer resources, willappear on the docket of next week's full FASmeeting for discussion

The office was implemented this year inresponse to concerns expressed by faculty membersand graduate students that there were sectionswithout available teaching fellows, and also thatthere were teaching fellows without sections.

The council also discussed a Report of theCommittee on Information Technology, chaired byDean of the Division of Arts and Sciences Paul C.Martin '52. The report, which calls for morecoordination of FAS computer resources, willappear on the docket of next week's full FASmeeting for discussion