In an official statement, the council recommended that Harvard's participation in the ROTC program be suspended in two years if "insufficient progress in resolving the issue of discrimination has been made to justify continuing our support and cooperation."
But instead of making a decision when the deadline approached, the Faculty Council appointed a committee headed by Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba '53 to examine the ROTC issue in depth.
The Verba committee issued a report in October 1992 saying the University could allow students to continue in MIT's ROTC program, but that Harvard should stop paying MIT the compensation fee.
The Faculty discussed the report in November, but did not vote on it until the University announced last May that Powell had been invited to speak at Commencement.
The Faculty supported the resolution by a large majority in order to act as a "counterweight" to Powell's invitation, according to Professor of English and Comparative Literature Barbara E. Johnson, who sponsored the vote.
As chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Powell had been a vocal opponent of letting openly gay people into the military.
But the Faculty also supported Rudenstine's recent decision to delay a choice on ROTC for a year.
"We did say that if there were clear progress in either governmental policy or in negotiations with MIT, there could be a delay," Verba said in a recent interview.
There was some confusion earlier this year about how seriously the University was taking the negotiations with MIT. Though Rudenstine delayed the decision because of what he later called "substantive discussions," an MIT official denied any knowledge of the talks in April.
"I'm not aware of the Harvard administration negotiating any kind of agreement with the MIT administration," said Sarah E. Gallop, assistant for government relations at MIT. "We've never been formally asked by anybody at Harvard to consider that kind of arrangement."
Two weeks later, after Harvard spokesperson New insisted the meetings were taking place. Gallop said she had recently discovered that there had been conversations about ROTC between Rudenstine and Vest.
There was no word, however, on the frequency or duration of any talks.
But after talking with Rudenstine, both Redding and Lin said they felt reassured about the president's candor in the matter.
"I believe him," Lin said. "He has been very gay-friendly. I think he's sincere."
And Redding said, "He is an intelligent person who has the ability to see what's right."
But Lin warned that if Rudenstine delayed the decision for another year, students would not be silent.
"If they decide to delay this, there will be protests," Lin said. "A year should be a more than sufficient amount of time."