The United Federation of College Teachers' strike against the nation's largest Roman Catholic university, St. John's, has wheezed along for more than a month now with both sides playing a game of verbal ping pong and not much else.

The strike, the first ever by teachers on the college level, was called after St. John's informed 21 faculty members that their contracts would not be renewed at the end of this year and that they would not be allowed to teach courses this spring.

The dispute centers on the amount of control the faculty should have in forming unversity policy, despite St. John's charge that the group is guilty of "unprofessional conduct." The Vincentian Fathers, the Catholic Order which owns and runs St. John's, claim that they alone have the right to decide policy; the union disagrees.

The university has retreated in some measure from this position since the strike began January 4. A faculty senate has been created; the rules concerning tenure have been changed to conform to standard practice in American universities; and the choice the department chairmen will be partially determined by faculty preference.

But however well-intentioned these reforms may be, they do not touch the basic problem. In practical terms, the administration has lost not a jot of its power.

Membership in the faculty senate is limited only to those with tenure--which effectively bars gives seats only to those sympathetic enough to the administration to be granted tenure in the first place. Anyway, the faculty senate has only advisory powers; the board of trustees is not bound to listen to their proposals.

The changes in the system of selecting department chairmen, though an improvement on the old method of simply having the president pick a man, still falls short of giving the faculty meaningful control. Now the faculty will be able to select three candidates for the post--but again only those with tenure will be eligible. Then the president will choose one of the three. And in the Philosophy and Theology Department, the president will still hand-pick the chairman.

On another key point, the granting of tenure, the university has accepted the long-standing guidelines set out by the American Association of University Professors. These rules protect tenured professors from dismissal for all but the most blatant violations of common propriety, and they also limit the time that a junior faculty member will be allowed the serve at the school in an untenured position. But here again the board the trustees controls the final decision whether or not to grant tenure still is theirs.

Clearly, the board will have to surrender some of its power. This may be a bitter pill to swallow, especially in public. But for the sake of St. John's more than 13000 students, the school's reputation and the reputation of Catholic education in general, it will have to be does.

These reforms should ideally be directed by the Catholic hierarchy. In recent statements on the Church's role in the modern world, Catholic leaders have acknowledged the right of free men to pursue the truth as they see it; now it is time to institute the idea.

The Church officials immediately concerned with St. John's, however, don't seem to see things this way. The bishop of Brocklyn has refused to step into the dispute, while is a recent speech the apostolic delegate to the United States--the Pope's "ambassador"--pointedly advised priests not to be come too involved with labor unions. The vincentian Fathers themselves, are regarded as generally conservative, especially those who control the Eastern Province, which has jurisdiction over St. John's.

Even given these facts, we do not think that strikes, or for that matter labor unions, are the proper means of dealing with educational disputes.

For one thing, the formal machinery of labor relations is not set up to handle non-profit organizations like universities. New York state exempts such institutions from many labor laws; and the National Labor Relations Board, which could exercise jurisdiction in the dispute, has refused to change its hands-off policy regarding universities.

About the only law St. John's may have violated is a ruling in the New York City Administration Code which forbids out-of-towners to break strikes in New York. The university has said that the Vincentians who flocked to St. John's to cover the teacher-less classes are performing a "brotherly service." The union calls it strike breaking.

Acting City Labor Commissioner James McFadden is checking into the question and his report could trigger action by either the Brooklyn or Queens District Attorney.

Teachers' unions are also objectionable because teachers, unlike factory workers or coal miners, are working with human beings. The "things" they "produce," educated people, can be irrevocably damaged by protracted haggling. Mothers do not try to solve the problems of parenthood by striking; teachers, too, should look for other means. The most viable answer is to have the American Association of University Professors clearly outline the needed reforms at St. John's and, if necessary, impose sanctions to insure that they are carried out. There is presently a three-man team from the organization's national office--the AAUP chapter at St. John's has been virtually paralyzed since the strike began--investigating the squabble. Their report is expected some time this spring.

The AAUP is not noted for its temerity. But if any measure of respectability is to be returned to the faculty at St. John's; if any lasting and meaningful reforms are to be enacted, they will have to be forthright in their analysis and explicit in their proposals. We hope they are.