Rosenblatt, who received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1968, was the senior tutor in Dunster House at the time of the takeover and a member of the Committee of Fifteen.

He eventually became the master of Dunster House, as the youngest person ever to be a house master, and was on the short list as a possible successor of Pusey, all before Rosenblatt's 29th birthday.

When the dust had cleared, and he had not received tenure in the English department, Rosenblatt left Harvard to become a writer.

In his book, Rosenblatt paints a picture of a fractured student body and faculty.

A vote taken outside University Hall at 1 p.m. on the day of the takeover found the majority of students opposed to the takeover. Two hours later, some students burned an effigy of an SDS member.

"Most of the students were just against attacking the University in this way," Rosenblatt says in a recent interview from New York.

Several members of the Class of 1972, who were first-years at the time of the takeover, echoed Rosenblatt's assessment of the division.

"I didn't personally approve of the takeover, and I don't think most of the people I knew approved of it at all," says John W. Gorman '72, who was a member of the Institute of Politics' Student Advisory Committee during his college years.

Still, by 4 p.m. on April 9, the ranks within University Hall had swelled to as many as 350 from the original 100.

Some of the 1972 graduates thought the student body supported SDS's motives, but not its methods.

"I think most of us felt that the students had a right to protest," says Leif R. Rosenberger '72, now a professor of economics at the U.S. Army War College. "I wasn't prepared to shut the school down as a means of protest."

Barbara Slavin '72, a member of SDS who occupied University Hall, says that many people questioned the manner in which the students staged the takeover.

"Many people, although they sympathized with the goals of the takeover, did not approve of the tactics," she says.

Rosenblatt displayed no such equivocation in his disapproval of Pusey's decision to call in the police, a choice which he said swung student opinion in favor of SDS.

"I think it was absolutely wrong," he says. "I thought it was wrong then and now."