Knowles Tells Faculty Exams Must Go On

As the Mass. Hall living wage sit-in enters its 20th day, faculty members have gone out of their way to help the students occupying the building complete their work, assigning response papers in lieu of section, teaching class outside the windows of Mass. Hall and even smuggling books and tape-recorded lectures into the administrative building-but this aid will have to end with the advent of finals.

In a letter sent to Faculty members on Friday, Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles informed professors that students occupying the building cannot be excused from their exams, nor can they be granted extensions beyond the end of exam period.

Knowles quoted from a rules book for Faculty offering instruction in Arts and Sciences.

"The published policies of the Faculty stipulate that if a course is scheduled to have a standard three-hour final examination, this examination must be administered to all students at the time and place announced by the Registrar," Knowles wrote.

The letter seemed to catch some Faculty members off-guard.

"I cannot guess the Dean's intentions, but I think the faculty can be trusted to know what the rules are and to know their responsibilities," said Professor of Anthropology Michael Herzfeld.

But the 30 students occupying the building say this threat of repercussions due to missed exams will not force them to leave Mass. Hall.

And they say they simply would not have been able to remain in the administrative building for the past 17 days if not for the continued support from professors.

For the students inside Mass. Hall, the greatest obstacle to successfully completing coursework-beyond the cramped conditions and constant rallying-is the lack of books.

Most students did not enter the building with enough schoolbooks to last them for more than two weeks. And Harvard University Police Department rules prohibit the delivery of anything but food for the students occupying the building.

But students say their professors and teaching fellows have expressed their support by smuggling academic material through the Mass. Hall windows.

Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) member Anna Falikov '02 said Steven R. Levitsky, an assistant professor in social studies, was threatened with arrest trying to return a graded paper through an open window.

"He put himself through a lot of risk and discomfort for me," Falikov said.

She said she receives phone calls from her professors to give her reading assignments and even had a secondhand sourcebook for one of her classes passed through the window.

She said Levitsky-who would have marked her "incomplete" as opposed to giving her a failing grade if she were to miss her exam-was "disappointed" by Knowles's letter.

PSLM member Madeleine S. Elfenbein '04 said she sees Knowles's letter and the rules prohibiting delivery of coursework to the building as tactics employed by administrators to force the students from Mass. Hall.

While she says her professors have been very supportive-she made a video for her Foreign Cultures class from within the building-it's simply very difficult to get work done without books.

"I just don't have the materials I need to complete my coursework and my grades will take a hit," she said. "This is a very effective tactic. To students who care a lot about their grades, it can be as crushing as denying food."

And if occupation of Mass. Hall extends to exam period, which begins on May 17, the stakes for the students inside grow higher.

Herzfeld, who has a teaching fellow occupying the building, said he expects that the living wage issue will be resolved before exam period.

"If they stay beyond this week, it's an indication that something has gone seriously wrong," Herzfeld said. "What I've seen so far leads me to think that a timely resolution is possible."

He said even beyond supporting the students through academic work, faculty members are urging administrators not to take any disciplinary action once the students have left the building.

Herzfeld said it would be inconsistent of administrators to punish students after applauding their "moral courage."

He said he expects that Faculty members will vote to recommend that no punitive action be taken at a Faculty meeting tomorrow.

Elfenbein said while she, too, hopes to see a resolution before exam period, she entered the building with the knowledge that she might have to make academic sacrifices.

"My parents have given me a carte blanche to let my grades slide," she said.