City Receives Federal Funds to Fight Drugs

The City of Cambridge recieved $60,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday to be used in the fight against illegal drugs.

The money will be spent on street-level enforcement, undercover operations, training narcotics officers and the purchase of specialized equipment.

The request for the money was made in early April by Rep. Alvin E. Thompson (D-Cambridge), who had originally sought $100,000.

The money comes from a block grant made by the Bureau of Justice Assistance under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988.

Thompson said that money from grants was "never enough," but added that "I'm sure these monies will be put to very good use."

Thompson said Cambridge was a medium drug-use area.

"We can't compare with Boston and Dorchester. The situation here is bad but not as serious as in other communities," he said.

Cambridge police will work out how the money will be divided later this week, Thompson said.

He said funds may go to existing programs or pay for the creation of new ones. He added that some of the money may support a drug-education program in the area's schools.

Far Fewer Add-Drop Petitions This Year

The early mailing of course catalogs this year may be the reason why undergraduates filed far fewer petitions than usual this term to add or drop courses, despite a shortened shopping period this year, a representative of the Registrar's Office said yesterday.

By the Monday deadline, students had filed 1261 petitions to add courses and 965 petitions to drop courses. By the same time last year, students filed 1959 petitions to add courses and 1451 petitions to drop courses, said Stephen Kane, assistant registrar for undergraduate records.

"It's possible that mailing the catalogs has helped most students by allowing them the time to review the courses and be more comfortable with their choices," he said.

Some first-year students said that looking at the catalog gave them a good idea of the types of courses offered at Harvard.

"It was helpful in that I got to see what Cores I would have to take," said Radhika A. Jones '94, "but it would have been fine if I had gotten it here."

GE Chief Discusses Education Programs

The nation's success in the next decade depends on the enthusiasm and creativity of young people, the chief executive officer of General Electric said last night, as he accepted a Harvard award for his company's programs to improve education in urban and rural high schools.

John F. Welch, Jr., who is also the chair of GE, accepted the Dively Award for Corporate Public Initiative on behalf of the company and spoke to a crowd of about 300 people at the Kennedy School of Government about the company's efforts to increase the number of college-bound students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

"The question for the '90s is `what's the next act...How do we adapt to a decade of change that is already making the wild `80s look like a walk in the park?' Creativity in the individual determines if this nation wins in 1990," Welch said.

In his talk, entitled "Mentors, Tutors, Friends: Employee Volunteers in America's Schools," Welch described the efforts of General Electric employees to assist high school students with their academic and non-academic problems.

"Over 100 of our people linked up with students who wanted help," Welch said of an inner-city high school in Cinncinnatti. When the program began, three students out of a class of 305 went on to college, he said. This year, 73 enrolled in colleges.

Although financial support has contributed to the success of the General Electric program--more than $20 million has been earmarked for the mentoring effort--human support is much more important, Welch said.

"Money is the least important element in the program. The people, the mentors, are the key," he said.

Tufts Student Senate Passes ROTC Motion

The Tufts student government rejected a resolution Sunday that would have asked the university to refuse ROTC scholarships if the Pentagon did not change its policy of barring gays and lesbians from service.

Instead, the Tufts Community Union Senate, by a vote of 16-9-1, passed a milder resolution that urges the Tufts community to fight the military's policy, but does not include a deadline or threat.

Wally Pansing, the student who authored the original resolution, said that the alternative motion which passed was completely worthless. "The teeth were taken away," he said.

Last spring, Harvard's Faculty Council passed a resolution demanding that the Defense Department remove its exclusionary policy, and Council members said Harvard might refuse ROTC scholarship money if the demand was not met within two years.

The resolution passed by the Tufts student senate calls for a letter-writing campaign to the military and raised the possibility of a course in tolerance for ROTC members.

The senate passed the resolution after a two-hour debate, during which student representatives, ROTC members and members of the Tufts Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community spoke. In addition, Tufts President Jean Mayer opposed the original resolution at the meeting.

Pansing said that his resolution was about "changing the Department of Defense's policy," not about taking money away from ROTC cadets. "People don't understand," he said. "Thousands of servicepeople are given dishonorable discharges each year."

Pansing, who is chair of the student government's culture and ethics committee, said he has no intentions of bringing up the issue again at this time.