Although AFSC provides counseling on all phases of CO procedure, Harvard CO's have only gotten as far as filing form 150. The draft boards invariably acknowledge receipt of 150 and proceed to defer the student, II-S. CO claimants are eligible for all the usual deferments and draft boards are eager to put off deciding a CO claim as long as possible. In fact, a sophomore with a II-S who wrote his board a letter declaring his conscientious objection and requesting a Form 150 to file was told that he didn't have to fill out the form until he lost his deferment. However, draft counselors advise that it is best to file Form 150 as early as possible as evidence of sincerity. The closer a claim comes to the time of possible induction, the more suspicious a board is liable to be.

Given temporary reprieves from the CO classification system by virtue of II-S, most Harvard CO's expect to have to go through a fight upon graduation. It is unlikely that a Harvard CO would win his case at the local board level because his unorthodox basis of objection is generally acceptable only in the spirit of the Seeger decision, which has not yet pervaded the local boards.

If the local board, on evaluation of a claimant's answers to Form 150, decides he does not deserve CO status, the claimant may opt for a hearing with the board to present his case in person. At the hearing, the board subjects claimants to a cross-examination which is often hostile. If the local board still refuses to classify him I-O, the claimant may take his case to the state appeal board. This entails an FBI investigation of his background and a hearing with a Department of Justice Hearing Officer. On the basis of the hearing the Department of Justice recommends to the state appeal board where to grant CO status. If the appeal board denies the claim, the CO has one last appeal to the President.

The unsuccessful claimant who has exhausted the Selective Service appeals and is ordered to induction has one alternative to entering the army. He may refuse induction and attack his Selective Service order as illegal in the courts. If he loses his case he will be imprisoned, a maximum of 5 years and or $10,000.

The Cost

According to Stephen Hedger of the AFSC, nearly all CO claims, even unorthodox ones, are being won somewhere in the appeal process or in the courts. Nevertheless, there are about 40 CO's now imprisoned because their claims for I-O status were turned down. Others pay for their conscientious objection in different ways. For example, one Harvard CO who had been planning a career in the foreign service was advised by the CCCO that he would have small chance for advancement.

But the United States has come a long way since World War I in tolerating CO's. Not only have the laws regarding who is eligible for CO status been greatly liberalized, but also an alternative service program has been created which allows CO's to pursue interesting and rewarding work. The only limitation on alternative service is that it be for a nonprofit organization.

America has not always been even this tolerant. In World War I 142 CO's were sentenced to life imprisonment. (They were eventually pardoned.) Norman Thomas writes describing the brutal treatment of CO's in training camps: "Men were forcibly clad in uniform, beaten, pricked or stabbed with bayonets, jerked about with ropes around their necks, threatened with summary execution, tortured by various forms of the 'water cure.' In at least two cases men were immersed in the filth of latrines, one of them head downward."

Today, CO's are still a small minority of 20,000 (registered I-O) out of a draft pool of 31 million. But the general distaste for the Vietnam war has made conscientious objection almost acceptable. By and large, Harvard CO's experience no social antagonism because of their stand. One CO who lives off-campus recalls his experience with his next door neighbor who had just returned from Vietnam: "He was a little shocked at first and suspected I was a coward. But after we talked about it for a few months and he began to understand my reasons, he respected my position. In fact, he's not paying his income taxes this year in protest of the war. I think if CO's can just communicate their reasons, people will be tolerant."

But few CO's have any illusions about the extent of the new American enlightenment. They generally agree that if the Vietnam war were declared and escalated into a major war, it would be much tougher on us."

Still, until that happens or until they lose their II-S's and have to fight for their I-O status, the Harvard CO faces little trouble. Those who went through the trials of SSS Form 150 several years ago have even begun to regard it with a touch of affection. One CO recalled, "I really resented having to 'prove' my objection then. But now I'm sort of glad. 150 makes you think, makes you evaluate yourself."

One CO convinced a Vietnam veteran to withhold his taxes in protest against the war.