Four first-year students were brought before the Administrative Board Wednesday and required to withdraw temporarily from the College because of their involvement in a Feb. 7 fire in Thayer Hall and in damage inflicted on a student's computer the day after.

Nathan A. Quiroz '00 and three other men were brought before the College's disciplinary body after Benjamin I. Krefetz '00, whose computer had been damaged, complained to College officials.

The men were guests of Krefetz's roommate, Ari L. Welkom '00, who was placed on probation on Wednesday.

The students this week confirmed they had been required to withdraw, but refused to comment on the nature of the board's proceedings.

University officials declined to comment on any aspect of the case.

On the evening on Feb. 8, Krefetz said, he spoke with Welkom and several of Welkom's friends, including two of the men who were subsequently asked to withdraw. They told Krefetz they had been to a final club party and Krefetz said he believed them to be "under the influence."

Krefetz said he left his Matthews Hall room around 2 a.m. When he returned, he found that Windows 95 files on this computer had been given "obscene names" and that one of his textbooks had been vandalized.

The writing in the book matched the handwriting of a football recruit who was among Welkom's group and who had left notes on other students' doors in Matthews, Krefetz said.

"At this point, no one is sure exactly what they did, except that they damaged files which the video drivers rely on," Krefetz added.

"It was football recruit weekend," he said. "All of the high school kids were up visiting."

Welkom and two of the four men required to leave are on Harvard's football team.

The day before, Feb. 7, Thayer had been evacuated at 11 p.m. after a resident, Jason R. Stevenson '00, pulled a fire alarm.

According to Sgt. James McCarthy of the Harvard Police Department, the fire was caused by the smoldering ashes of plastic objects in a paper bag in room 302.

Quiroz lives in room 302.

McCarthy added that "a bag doesn't spontaneously combust" and that the students involved in the incident "did something really dangerous."