Four consecutive telephone calls yesterday morning from The Crimson to Walesa's home in Gdansk went dead in all four occasions immediately after a party answered the call.
David M. Rosen. Harvard's director of public relations, emphasized yesterday that Walesa carefully qualified his refusals in the AP interview. Rosen pointed to the fact that be spoke of his decision "today" and said he most probably" would not attend.
"That is not a definite no," said Rosen What would he say tomorrow or next week" Familiar with all of yesterday's reports except the Radio Free Europe dispatch. Rosen still said, "I think our position remains the same. There was an exchange of letters and a conversation through an intermediary."
He added. "Our conclusion that he had accepted was not based only on his letter but on at least one oral conversation."
But Rosen said. "The invitation is clearly more in doubt today than it was yesterday."
Fordham Offer
A member of the board of trustees of Fordham University yesterday confirmed that the New York City Catholic institution also offered Walesa an honorary degree.
The trustee, who refused to be identified added, "the last information was that Fordham would issue the degree in this particular case in aboinfla," a move that would be unusual, if not unprecedented.
Two officials at the Polish Brabassy in Washington said yesterday they thought Walesa would have no trouble in obtaining permission to travel to the United States and return to Poland. The officials, who insisted on anonymity, suggested that Walesa's reported decision might stem from personal reasons.
One such reason, they speculated, could be Pope John Paul II's scheduled mid-June visit to Warsaw. Some specialists have said Walesa may fear that a trip to the United States could disrupt the Pope's plans, possibly by creating such a volatile atmosphere in Poland that authorities there would cancel the pontiff's visit.
But the embassy officials said Walesa might simply be reluctant to travel to the United States for fear that he would not be able to return to Poland in time to see the Pope, a former Polish cardinal.
The officials added that the embassy has played no role in Harvard's invitation to Walesa. Harvard administrators said Thursday they extended the invitation to Walesa without informing the United States government