Seventeen Dartmouth College students who tried to block officials from removing an anti-apartheid shanty from the campus green have been found in violation of a conduct code but will not be punished, a college spokesman said yesterday.

A panel of Dartmouth's Committee on Standards said it would not impose sanctions because of a misunderstanding between the administration and the students who were arrested in the February 11 demonstration, said Laura Dicovitsky, a college spokesman.

Students protesting the Ivy League school's holdings in companies doing business in South Africa built a shantytown on the campus green last November.

Three months later, Dartmouth president David McLaughlin said the shanties had served their purpose and should be removed. Students and college officials agreed to transfer one shanty to the lawn in front of the administration building and another to the college museum.

But then Hanover officials notified Dartmouth that the shanty in front of the administration building, as well as one remaining on the green, violated town zoning laws and ordered them removed within a week.

Negotiations between students and the administration broke down on the morning of February 11. The shack in front of the administration building was removed without incident, but when students tried to stop school grounds workers from hauling away the shanty on the green, they were arrested.

"Misunderstanding about the state of negotiations between the students charged and the administration, and confusion about the disposition of the shanty on the green and the timetable for its removal are significant factors in the committee's decision not to impose any sanctions," read a statement released at the panel's hearing.

The students were arrested in the protest and charged with criminal trespassing, but the college later dropped criminal complaints, preferring to initiate an internal review.

Another student, who police alleged shoved an officer during the demonstration, still faces an assault charge. His case was not heard by the disciplinary board.

Other Developments

Negative national publicity surrounding the series of racially-charged incidents at Dartmouth may have triggered a 25 percent drop in Black applicants, officials at the school said.

"I do think that a lot of the unrest that was in the press caused a lot of students who would complete [their applications] between January and February not to," Director of Admissions Dick Jaeger told The Dartmouth, the campus daily.

Other Ivy League schools, however, reported larger pools of Black applicants, and, in many cases, dramatic rises in the number of applications over past years.

Despite the drop in applicants from 400 in 1985 to 300 this year, Dartmouth will not enroll fewer Black students, officials say. The admissions office will institute a "more energetic follow-up procedure" to woo prospective Black students, Dean of Admissions Alfred Quirk told The Dartmouth.

Total Dartmouth enrollment will also remain stable, although the college received approximately 1000 fewer applications than last year.

Right Hook

In further developments at the Hanover campus, members of The Dartmouth Review, who spearheaded the shanty attack, face double trouble on the legal front.

First, the college announced that it may sue the conservative weekly newspaper--which has no official ties to the college--to have the word "Dartmouth" removed from its title. "We think we have exclusive use to the name in the publishing field," Dartmouth College legal counsel Cary Clark told The Dartmouth, which uses its name with the approval of the college.

Second, the 12 students who attempted to destroy the shanties in January--nine of whom are associated with the Review--said they face "substantial fees" for legal defense in their suspension appeal, according to The Dartmouth. Friends and alumni nationwide have begun efforts to raise funds for the 12 financially-strapped students.