Weld Professor of Law Derrick A. Bell--who is currently taking an unpaid leave of absence to protest lack of faculty diversity--said that the abrupt and uncourteous manner in which Watson was dismissed may have revealed an attempt to punish Watson for his controversial views.

HARVARD AND AIDS

Two Harvard professors made national news when they reported that they had synthesized a molecule that in laboratory tests had prevented AIDS from spreading. Professor of Chemistry Stuart L. Schreiber, Professor of Pediatrics Steven J. Burakoff and Associate Professor of Medicine Robert W. Finberg say it is too soon to know the drug's potential, and warn that any testing for humans is at least a year away. Nevertheless, Burakoff said the drug "holds out the hope that it might prevent the spread of AIDS."

Meanwhile, the Harvard administration itself was taking steps to prevent discrimination against those infected with the HIV virus. In June, the Harvard professor who is slated to chair the Eighth International Conference on AIDS here in 1992 said that it will not be held here unless the federal government changes a policy which bars foreigners who have tested positive for the AIDS virus from entering this country without a special waiver.

University officials said that the letter is part of a broader effort by faculty and administrators to lobby Congress and the Bush Administration in an effort to change U.S. immigration policy.

Lifting the travel restrictions would require a vote of Congress, which in 1987 added the AIDS virus to a list of "excludable diseases," according to Richard Kenney, a spokesperson for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.