A mass meeting of the Yale student body broke up last night after deferring a vote on a college-wide strike in support of nine Black Panthers on trial in New Haven for murder. The meeting, called by the Yale Black Student Association and the Third World Liberation Front, drew 5,000 students. The strike would have demanded that Yale help pay court costs for the Panthers.

According to Yale Daily News reporters, over 50 per cent of those at the meeting appeared to favor a strike. The meeting, held in the Yale hockey rink, voted, however, to break up and let each college in the university decide for itself. As of late last night the meetings in the colleges were still going on.

David Hilliard, chief of staff of the Panthers, spoke at the mass meeting in favor of the strike. Hilliard was released from jail yesterday afternoon after a sixmonth contempt of court sentence was commuted to "time served" by New Haven Superior Court Judge Harold M. Mulvey. Bobby Seale, Panther Chairman and one of the defendants, had earlier told Mulvey that the Panthers favored "peace and decorum in the courtroom. We want a fair trial."

Earlier yesterday 30 young people were arrested after a demonstration in support of Seale.