A 26-year-old nurses' aide picketed Holyoke Center for several hours yesterday afternoon to protest what she called Harvard's "slum-lord tactics" in the operation of her apartment building.

The aide, Jesse L. Gill, head of the Mount Auburn Tenants' Union, also picketed Holyoke Center last January in an attempt to block Harvard's acquisition of the building, located at 122 Mt. Auburn St. The University finally won control of the building last spring, after a lengthy court fight with the previous owners.

Month's Rent

Miss Gill claims that L. Gard Wiggins, administrative vice-president of the University, promised that the actual operators of the building could run it as they had in the past. But last July, the building's operator--the R.N. Bradley real estate firm--began requiring new tenants to put up security rent. This bond is equal to one month's rent to assure that the tenants would not damage their rooms.

Henry H. Cutler '29, the University's manager for taxes, insurance, and real estate, said yesterday that the security rent practice was begun at the suggestion of the R.N. Bradley firm. The practice was common, he noted, in all buildings which had a history of hard usage and high turnover in tenants.

"Many of the tenants are students; it's hard to catch up with them once they've left to make them pay for damage to their rooms," Cutler commented.

New Tenants Pay Deposit

None of the tenants who lived in the building when the University bought it have been charged security rent. Only the 10 to 15 tenants who moved into the building since July had to put up the deposits.

"We're not trying to hold them up," Cutler said. He noted that the deposit requirement was printed on the lease and that those potential tenants who did not wish to pay it did not have to move into the building.