"The Faculty's opinion was registered--it was clear what a majority of the Faculty thought," Goldfarb said.

With the Faculty divided, it is unclear how much influence it will have over the Corporation, which could decide the issue at its next meeting on January 9.

"There are two factors," said Thomas A. Gerace '93, the chair of the Committee to End Discrimination by Harvard. "First, whether Rudenstine is comfortable taking the report to the Corporation knowing that the Faculty disagrees with his position."

Another factor is what weight the Corporation gives faculty opinion.

Professors and activists alike refused to predict the Faculty's influence.

"It's a tough call," Gerace said. "We have no idea."

Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba '53, who chaired a committee which recommended two years ago that Harvard cut its ties to ROTC, also did not want to speculate.

"I would not want to predict what influence the Faculty has," Verba said.

Rudenstine's Absence

Rudenstine's absence from the Faculty meeting may have altered the meeting's outcome. Professors largely ignored acting President Albert Carnesale.

"It is a tough call to make whether people would have been more confrontational if Rudenstine weren't ill," Gerace said.

"The committee felt it somewhat awkward to release our reply given the president's illness but believed the issue was so important and the timing so important that it was necessary to move forward anyway," Gerace said.

Gerace said he has called a committee meeting for Sunday afternoon "to set a strategy in light of the FAS vote."

He said it is likely the committee will take some action to raise awareness for the Corporation's meeting, but declined to comment on what it might be