Central Intelligence Agency Director William Colby was briefly confronted by demonstrators last night during an off-the-record dinner meeting with this year's Neiman fellows at the Faculty Club.

While 150 demonstrators marched outside the Club, a delegation of six protesters entered the building to ask Colby to meet with the marchers and answer questions about the CIA's role in Chile.

After an interchange between Colby, the protesters and Nieman Curator James C. Thompson, the CIA director declined to meet outside with the demonstrators and the delegation rejoined the picket line outside.

The protest, the largest at Harvard since last winter's Honeywell demonstration, lasted an hour and a half and was marked by a series of chants condemning Colby and the CIA.

The demonstrators walked directly beneath the windows of the room where Colby ate and shouted "Colby, killer" in the direction of the windows.

The chants, which included a call to "destabilize the CIA," plainly could be heard by the participants at the Nieman session, but apparently did not disrupt the meeting.

Daniel Ellsberg '54, who spoke to the Nieman fellows Monday afternoon, was among the protesters. Ellsberg carried a placard that said "William Colby Murders Humans and Democracy."

When the six protesters confronted Colby inside the Faculty Club just before the dinner began, the CIA director said he would not come outside because "I've been invited to a private party."

Thomson then told the six protesters that Colby "has been doing a lot of open talking before a lot of public gatherings," adding, "He's the most open CIA director ever invented."

At the end of the confrontation, one demonstrator, Philip T. Aranow '69, turned to Colby and said, "You're a wonderful killer."

"Thank you," Colby responded.

After the six demonstrators departed, Colby said he did not mind the protest. "It's part of life," he said.

Thomson said he thought the protesters' request that Colby answer their questions was "reasonable, as was his [Colby's] response."

"I think the Niemans will give Colby a hard time," Thomson said before the dinner