Yale yesterday suspended three students who used mountaineering tactics to scale the face of Memorial Hall late Wednesday night, but were trapped by police spotlights before they could whitewash huge Y's on the roof of the bell tower.

The whole incident was hushed up by University police over the weekend, and the New Haven dean's office still won't reveal the names of the students involved.

Midnight Beachhead

According to their own story, the three Yale men arrived in Cambridge at 11 p.m. Wednesday night and at 12:30 began climbing the north wall of Memorial Hall, across the street from New Lecture Hall.

They used nylon ropes and mountain-climbing methods to assist them, and planned to reach the lower roof, cross to the tower, which they would then climb and adorn with whitewashed Y's.

Alert Strollers

Early-morning passersby noticed them, however, and phoned University police. Less than ten minutes after they had started climbing, the trio was picked out by spotlights and forced to come down.

Police questioned them until 3:30 p.m. and told them "to get back to New Haven tonight." Telephone calls between the Yale deane and Arthur R. Hordon, Jr. '39, assistant dean of the College, settled their fate. The three were given notice of their suspension over the weekend.

The incident was the only invasion of Yalies during the week.