_ es at a + : 4 " ' sala fa hethee Ra ani ache dhecael tale te etehe ateea kk F - noe aes opinion. Second, the separation of the NEWS IN BRIEF identification cards into three groups seemed to correspond naturally with the three forms of punishment (severance, probation, and a simple admonition). It was a tense faculty which approved the Board’s recommendations for probation the next week. The motion passed, on a hand vote, by a 4-to-l or 5-to-1 margin, and the most relieved were those who had pleaded for leniency and expected harshness. The Board had, in fact, made an eminently practical and thoroughly political decision. It delighted few, but satisfied almost everyone. In moderation, the college actually got what it demanded. No one really wanted to see the issue brought to a sharp head at the risk of shattering the university. In general, Harvard students and faculty alike enjoy being in Cambridge; they are snobbish and protective about their university; most of them—whatever their dissatisfactions, and they have many—want to stay at Harvard. Students and faculty, parochial as they are, had a common interest in hoping the demonstration would not snowball into something bigger. One of the most radical members of the faculty, Barrington Moore, Jr., emphasized this point in a retrospective article: “As students and teachers we have no objective interest in kicking down the far from sturdy walls that still do pro- tect us. For all their faults and inade- quacies the universities, and especially perhaps Harvard, do constitute a moat behind which it is still possible to examine and indict the destructive trends in our society.” The Administrative Board’s recommendations were soothing, not so much because the Board calmly calculated what the community would accept— such problems were discussed sparingly, if at all, in the Boards’ meetings—but because so many people were so aroused that they made their thoughts known to anyone who would listen. All the pressures ultimately came to bear on the Board. To recommend no punishment for the demonstrators, or a simple admonition for all, as some faculty members wanted, would have been to disregard the views of a majority of the faculty (including the University president), who thought the sit-in should clearly be branded as bad. Many Board members actually felt that the recommenda- tions would have to be defended against charges of leniency. 8 DECEMBER 1967 @ COOPERATIVE POPULATION STUDY: A joint study on population control has been started by the population committees of the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London. The study is being supported in the United States by a $45,000 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and by a $10,000 Population Council. grant from the endowed professorships. The Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology is seeking $135 million. The California Institute of Technology is attempting to Taise $85.4 million, and Harvard is looking for $48.7 million. Harvard’s drive is “aimed especially at putting new zest in the undergraduate instruction in science” and will provide for the construction of new science facilities and endowed professorships in astron- omy, biology, engineering and applied e BOOKS FOR ASIA: College-level physics, mathematics, and physics. stitutions are being sought by the Asia Foundation. Physical sciences books, published since 1955, and social sci- ® SOVIET’S UFO STUDY:The Soviet books for use in Asian academic in- ences and humanities books, carrying a 1950 or later publication date, are being accepted. Literary classics and anthologies of any age are also sought. The book donations, which are tax deductible, should be sent to Books for Asian Students, 451 Sixth St., San Francisco, Calif. 94103. government, reversing its previous pol- icy of largely ignoring reports of unidentified flying objects, has created a commission to study UFO reports. Air ‘Force General Anatoly Stolyerov was named to head the commission. @ PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH: The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers As- sociation has published data indicating that the industry spent $416.1 million for research and development in 1966. According to the association, 17.3 percent of the expenditure was for basic @ NSF CHEMISTRY SECTION: The National Science Foundation has announced the reorganization of its Chemistry Section to “more accurately reflect current research interests and activities of its component programs.” research, that position. established in January primarily to develop an organizational plan for the M. Kent Wilson, who previously headed the Chemistry Section, continues in @ LATIN AMERICAN PROGRAM: Plans for a multinational program for science and technology in Latin America are progressing rapidly, James R. Killian, Jr., has reported to President Johnson. Killian, who is chairman of the MIT Corporation, is serving with a group of experts to develop science and technology in Latin America. The group was formed at the direction of the presidents of the American states when they met at Punta del Este in April. Among the items under consideration are the establishment of multinational centers for science and technology and the strengthening of existing centers. Bernard Houssay, a Nobel laureate from Argentina, is chairman of the group. @ FUND DRIVES: Three universities have announced fund drives with com- bined goals totaling $269.1 million. Funds from each of the drives will be partially used for new construction and @ OCEANOGRAPHY: The Commission on Marine Science, Engineering. and Resources—a temporary body government’s widely scattered oceano- graphic enterprise—will give interested parties a chanceto react to its proposals before reporting to the President. Ac- cording to Julius A. Stratton, chairman of the new body, the commission seeks to have its life extended by 6 monthsto allow more time for informal discussion of its proposals with government agencies, industry, and academic cen- ters. Congress has been asked to permit the commission to report in January 1969 instead of next July; routine approval of this request is expected. Stratton says that by mid-year the commis- sion’s tentative proposals should be in hand. A not altogether incidental advantage of the 6-month postponement is that the report will not go to the White House in the midst of a presidential election campaign. Speculation now centers on whether the commission will recommend a “wet NASA” or a looser form of organtzation for the government's oceanographic activities. E291