Through the fall, the CEP had heard testimony from nearly every group that had any connection with ROTC. Only the Harvard Young Republicans claimed that the CEP had ignored them. And despite the political nature of some of the testimony it heard, the CEP remained concerned primarily with academic principles: whether ROTC courses deserved credit, and what effect the removal of credit would have on the ROTC program.

The CEP resolution that evolved would have forced all ROTC courses and professors to reapply individually for academic status through any of Harvard's existing departments. James Q. Wilson, professor of Government, who was to present the CEP recommendation to the Faculty, suggested that the plan would be as effective as the SFAC plan in abolishing credit. After all, he asked, "What department would approve the courses?" But the comment reportedly made by Col. Robert H. Pell, professor of Military Science and director of Army ROTC, that the CEP resolution "couldn't have pleased me more" made ROTC opponents uneasy about Wilson's claim.

The Faculty vote was slated for December 12. But the Paine Hall sit-in, in which over 100 students attempted to gain entrance to the Faculty meeting, upstaged the scheduled debate on ROTC for more than five weeks. After disposing of Paine Hall punishments, the Faculty turned its attention back to the ROTC issue.

On February 4, with nine specially-invited students present (the first "open" Faculty meeting in Harvard's history), the Faculty voted, 207-125, to approve the SFAC proposal, with-drawing academic credit from all ROTC courses. The SFAC resolution made no mention of the possibility of according extracurricular status to ROTC, a move supported by the Corporation. And at that time Franklin L. Ford, then dean of the Faculty, declined to speculate on ROTC's future at Harvard. But Col. Pell said that the Faculty's decision "would ultimately drive ROTC from the campus."

Two weeks later the Corporation approved the Faculty's request that academic credit be withdrawn from ROTC courses and that appointments for ROTC instructors be revoked, but it voted to negotiate new contracts with the Defense Department to keep ROTC units operating at Harvard.

Several groups charged that the Corporation had, in fact, overruled or attempted to circumvent the Faculty proposal to eliminate ROTC privileges at the university. They demanded that ROTC be abolished immediately,. Amid protest, President Pusey and other Ivy League presidents tried ardently to negotiate new contracts with the Defense Department.

And then the confrontations really began. The climax came on April 9 when several hundred anti-ROTC demonstrators occupied University Hall and ejected all administration officials and staff members, some of them forcibly.

Then, on April 17, three days after the Soldiers Field meeting, the Faculty resolved that any Harvard ROTC unit should be no more than an ordinary extracurricular activity "with no special privileges or facilities granted either by contract or informal agreement." The Bruner Resolution, adopted by a 385-25 margin, provided that "existing contracts inconsistent with-this principle be terminated as soon as legally possible and that scholarship funds be provided where need is created by this decision."

So ROTC made its departure from Harvard leaving behind only a few remnants of its 53-year life here. The possible return of ROTC may have sparked some debate last fall, but for the most part the issue died a peaceful death. No current class can look back with first-hand experience on the days when ROTC was last a burning issue at this university