THE CRR, like the Committee of Fifteen before it, has dealt only with issues arising from political demonstrations. The Resolution permits the CRR to consider many other violations, such as those concerning all sorts of damage to University property. The individual filing charges decides whether he will place them with the CRR or with the Ad Board, a panel of Senior Tutors and other administrators that meets regularly to discuss different types of disciplinary cases. Before the occupation of University Hall in April 1969, the Ad Board considered all disciplinary cases. Now, the CRR is authorized to handle charges of interference with "freedom of speech and academic freedom, freedom from personal force and violence, and freedom of movement"- in short, with "values which are essential to [the University's] nature as an academic community." "Theft or willful destruction of the property of the University" is included in this category.
In an interview, Dean May said there is a "gray area" between the jurisdiction of the Ad Board and that of the CRR. May said that in deciding where he should present his charges, he considers "whether the case is one that needs to be heard by a representative body, as the CRR is," adding, "My guess is that the extent of community interest in the case is an important factor." Making another distinction, May said, "The Ad Board deals with the truth of the facts, the CRR more with the quality of the action."
Q. Dean May, if someone threw snowballs at you, that would be clearly a case for the Ad Board, is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And if someone threw snowballs at you and shouted "Promote the Helpers," that would fall into the "gray area" and might very well be brought to the CRR?
A. Yes, I suppose that is correct.
Most Committee members are reticent about discussing the political nature of the CRR. Predictably, the two radical student members of the Committee will readily talk about that issue. But Martin Kilson, a Faculty representative, also discussed the matter candidly. "There is no doubt we are political, because we are in a situation which arose in a political context," Kilson said. "Our findings will also have political implications." At the Schwartz interview, annoyed by complaints of the radical students that Schwartz was being asked questions on his political beliefs and that such questions were irrelevant to his case for readmission, Kilson said, "Come on, don't kid yourself, this is a political tribunal, and it's relevant if he's politically acceptable."
SO THE CRR has few guidelines in readmission's cases. So it frequently asks political questions and some of its members admit its political nature. So it puts applicants it interviews under a grille that is usually both painful and humiliating. So it demonstrates its political nature by taking only political cases away from the Ad Board's jurisdiction. So it makes that all clearer in a proposed amendment, which would specify that only students asked to leave the University by the Committee- and not those disciplined by the Ad Board, for theft, property destruction, or anything else- are forbidden to be present "in any part of the Harvard community without the express written permission of the Committee." So the new voting procedure to elect student CRR delegates is an elaborate lottery system that, as Anderson said, "is guaranteed to produce students," thus avoiding embarrassing situations such as Quincy House's indecision on its authority to send a representative and Dudley House's election of one pledged against the Committee. So what? What is the role of the CRR?
The frequent repetition of the phrase "academic community" in the Resolution is, of course, no accident. The CRR is the ultimate bulwark against the outside world. It keeps out "the coercive arm of the outside community," as Kilson put it. But while supporters of the CRR defend the concept of the separate academic community, they ignore that community's involvement in the outside world. It is this involvement which motivates most of the turmoil the CRR judges. It would be lovely to live in a world where a pure academic community can exist, where scholars needn't think about atrocities outside their gates. It would be lovely to live in a world without atrocities. But while a war wages in Indochina, an unjust war waged with the complicit support of the University, one can't expect peace to prevail within those gates. The University must fight to create a world where an academic community can exist.
It's winter now, and the bear is still sleeping. If you look closely, you can observe most of his features. But why bother to study him? Well, for one thing, warm weather is returning. You never know. The bear may wake up.