AFTER A handful of telephone calls I was able to obtain a text of the resolution, which made Page One of the morning Globe. It also marked the last time I was able to get past Dean Ford's secretary with a question. Dean Ford undoubtedly felt that I was ill serving Harvard with my handling of the affair. One must of course question whether serving the University administration or the dean of the faculty is necessarily synonymous with serving Harvard. But there is also the deeper question of whether a reporter should stop to ask how well his is serving Harvard. University officials, steeped in the traditional game of footsie which Harvard has played with the Boston newspapers, obviously believe the answer is that he should. But a reporter must answer no. If he is to think of himself as serving anyone, it must be his paper, or "the public," or worst of all, "the truth," but not Harvard.

DURING THE April crisis, these minor irritations were further inflamed. On the evening of the University Hall takeover, President Pusey released his first statement on the SDS demands. On the expansion demands he said: "There are no plans to tear down any apartments on University Road nor are any homes being torn down to make way for Harvard Medical School expansion." It seems incredible that Pusey could have supposed reporters would not investigate the conflicting claims, but it is hard to account for his statement otherwise.

Both his assertions were "true" only in the narrowest sense. They conveyed impressions which were false, as reporters soon discovered. Harvard had "no plans" for the demolition of the University Road apartments in the sense that no demolition company had been chosen, no destruction date set. But six months earlier, when Harvard officials sought to explain the building's poor condition at the time of Miss Britton's murder, they acknowledged that it had been purchased with a view toward eventual incorporation in the Kennedy Library site and that it would someday be replaced. It was also true that no homes were being torn down to make way for "Harvard Medical School expansion," and to have claimed they were was typical of SDS sloppiness. But 184 Harvard-owned apartments were slated for demolition to make way for a new Harvard Affiliated Hospital Complex, which would serve as a Medical School teaching facility.

Throughout the April crisis it was all but impossible for newsmen to get an audience with any Harvard officials. With the exception of two ness conferences by Dean Ford following Faculty meetings, administrators were simply not available.

Nor was the University News Office much help. The News Office has a nifty file of faculty biographies; it's great at sending your hometown newspaper a release when you are elected Vice President of the Freshman Glee Club, but beyond that the office is mired in ineptitude, and frequently, malice. It is not unusual for a reporter to ask if a release is forthcoming, and be told that none is, only to return thirty minutes later and find a stack of 200 freshly printed releases. Harvard veterans had long since learned that the News Office was good for little more than a phone and a typewriter, but the hordes who arrived during the crisis had to learn for themselves. A reporter for the Washington Post struggled vainly with the News Office personnel for three days and finally remarked to another newsman in desperation, "If this operation is anything like the rest of the Harvard administration, no wonder the kids are rioting."

When reporters arrived at a "news conference" by senior Corporation Fellow William Marbury only to hear news officer William Pinkerton announce that Marbury would read a statement and answer no question, Timesman E. W. Kenworthy had had enough. Kenworthy, a grey-haired reporter who has terrorized many a news conference-holder in his day, demanded that Marbury submit to questioning. "It's been more than a week," he blustered at Pinkerton, "since the building was occupied, and we have yet to ask a single question of a member of the Harvard Administration." It wasn't true, Pinkerton protested, Dean Ford had held two news conferences. But Kenworthy prevailed and Marbury submitted to several minutes of question.

IT MUST be said, in the administration's defense, that Harvard officials had a lot of things to do during April besides catering to the press. But the lack of professionalism which attended Harvard's treatment of reporters during the strike was just a symptom of a deeper and growing alienation and distrust between Harvard officials and reporters.

It must also be noted that the picture I have painted describes Harvard's press relations at their worst. Within the University News Office there are several individuals who are consistently thoughtful and helpful. Most Faculty members and many members of the administration handle reporters with respect and intelligence. But at the highest levels within the Administration, pettiness and sanctimoniousness are too often the rule of the day.

In ancient times, as Eugene McCarthy was fond of recalling, the messenger who brought the bad news was often executed, even if the news he bore was true. Harvard has been receiving a lot of bad news lately and she is likely to receive more bad news in the future. She would do well to reach some accommodation with the messengers.