The ROTC debate settled down considerably afterthe faculty ended the three-day on strike on April17, 1969, by voting to allot RTOC onlyextracurricular status and effectively forcing theprogram off Harvard campus.

After the administration's 170 decision,Harvard students could participate in ROTC byenrolling at MIT. In 1976, the Faculty voted toallow students to cross-register in ROTC coursesat MIT without receiving Harvard credit.

Today, Harvard gives #130,000 per year to MITfor the approximately 80 students at the Collegeenrolled in MIT's ROTC program.

Delaying a Decision

In May 1990,the Faculty Council voted on theUniversity's ROTC ties, just as it had in 1969.The council "issued a statement deploringdiscrimination by the military services againstgay and lesbain students," according to a 1992report of a faculty committee on ROTC.

If the military did not make significantprogress on fighting such discrimination withinthe next two years, the council said, Harvardshould stop its involvement in ROTC programs.

In 1992, after the Faculty's two-year deadlinehad passed, President Neil L. Rudenstineestablished a committee on ROTC, headed byPforzheimer University professor Sidney Verba '53,examine the University's ties to ROTC.

The Verba Committee did not suggest a total endto ties with ROTC. But it recommended that theUniversity cut funding to ROTC unless the militarysignificantly altered its stance on homosexuals.

"If the Department of Defense policy remains ineffect, Harvard should stop paying the MIT feebeginning with the class entering in 1994," thereport stated.

The report, however, gave the President leewayto postpone a decision if he saw fit. "Werecommend that... 1994 be a target or planningdate, not a rigid requirment. This flexibility,however, is not meant to be a license for delay,"the report said.

Despite changes in military policy under theClinton administration, the Faculty decidedearlier this year that the Verba committee'srecommendations still stand.

And in February, Rudenstine used the loopholein Verba report to extend ROTC for yet anotheryear. He said he was working out agreement withMIT to allow Harvard students to participatewithout the University paying MIT for theirinvolvement.

"I think the President is still involved innegotiations with MIT, and the convinced thefaculty that the delay was warranted," says Verba,who along with other committee members, says hebelieves Rudenstine is in negotiations with MIT."Our report left a loophole in it, very selfconsciously and carefully, and I think for goodreasons."

But Sara Gallop, assistant for governmentrelations and liasion in the MIT President'soffice on ROTC, says she is not aware of anynegotations with Harvard.

"We've never been formally asked by anybody atHarvard to consider that arrangement," she says.