* To reject any civil defense action whatever, and to refuse to cooperate with any Federal or local civil defense program;

* To passively cooperate with any civil defense program which might develop, but to take no positive action or initiative;

* To make plans for a fallout shelter program, but to take no further action at this time;

* To determine Harvard's needs and capacities, and to go ahead now on a University program which would be coordinated with any Federal or local plans or programs which may develop;

* To press ahead with an "all-out" unilateral civil defense program, regardless of what may develop as national or local civil defense policy.

Questions to Be Answered

In arriving at a decision on this basic question, there are several relevant considerations:

-- What are the effects of nuclear attack, and are there any conditions in which civil defense activities by the University would be effective? If the answer to this question is "no," then all other questions are irrelevant.

-- Even if the conclusion is "yes," should the University take any action which would imply approval of the national civil defense policy, or of the Federal civil defense program as presently defined?

-- What is the University's responsibility to its students and staff?

-- What responsibilities or relationships does Harvard have with the communities within which it is situated?

The Committee considered the range of effects of nuclear weapons, and it concluded that the following conditions (among others) might occur in event of nuclear war:

* an attack with large nuclear weapons which hit Metropolitan Boston, either by design or as an alternative to other targets;

* An attack which hits peripheral targets in the Metropolitan Boston area, either by design or accident;

* an attack directed at major military targets (of which the most likely in this area is Westover Field, near Springfield), and upon other urban areas.