Cambridge citizens have a rare opportunity today to express their opinion on the war in Vietnam.

The resolution of the Cambridge Neighborhood Committee on Vietnam which appears on today's ballot condemns the war as "not in the best interests of either the American or Vietnamese people." It calls for "the prompt return home of American soldiers."

One of two such referenda across the country, it comes during the last nation-wide series of elections prior to the 1968 presidential contest. It will be watched as an indicator of public opinion.

The resolution is carefully worded to include all shades of dovish opinion. A "no" vote will almost certainly be interpreted as an endorsement of President Johnson's conduct of the war--or worse, as an invitation to escalate the conflict. A "yes" vote would be a clear statement of concern over the drift of U.S. war policy.

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Mrs. Barbara Ackermann, who has served three terms as a School Committeewoman and is now running for the City Council, should be elected. Unlike her fellow candidates, she has openly supported a "yes" vote on the CNCV petition. And last year she took the lead in defending the right of free speech, voting with two other CCA-endorsed School Committee members to let Stokely Carmichael, who was being sponsored by a Harvard group, speak at Rindge Tech. She served on the School Committee with distinction and can be expected to do the same on the City Council.

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The CCA has endorsed nine candidates from the large field aspiring to the six openings on the School Committee. Of these, three are particularly deserving of support--Francis H. Duehay '55, Gustave M. Solomons and David A. Wylie.

Duehay, assistant dean of the Ed School, should be elected to a third term. Duehay helps form a link between the Ed School's research complex and the Cambridge schools and agressively stands for progress in the city's school system. Equally important, he has a shrewd sense of where to wage his battles and manages to work effectively with the School Committee's traditionalists. When the Committee voted three weeks ago to turn its facilities into "community schools"--open to public and private service groups during off hours--the motion was co-sponsored by Duehay and veteran Committeeman James Fitzgerald.

Gustave M. Solomons is another well-qualified incumbent. Like Duehay and Ackermann, he supported Carmichael's right to speak in the auditorium of a city school. Wylie, a local lawyer, spearheaded the PTA demands for better school buildings four years ago, and the pressure has blossomed into plans to construct three new schools.