"Vieques has more craters per square meter than the surface of the moon," Sanchez said.

By passing the resolution, she said, the council could influence other legislators and decision-makers in the U.S. and put additional pressure on the Navy to leave the island.

Copies of the resolution will now be sent to President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore '69, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, Navy Secretary John H. Dalton, Gov. Pedro J. Rossello of Puerto Rico and other influential officials.

Clinton agreed last month to allow Puerto Ricans to hold a referendum on the Vieques situation.

Puerto Ricans would have two options: they could vote either to let the Navy resume use of its firing range "on its own terms" in exchange for new federal financial aid or order the Navy to cease all training at its base by May 1, 2003. A date for the referendum has not been set.

At Harvard, about 60 faculty members have signed a petition calling for the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Vieques, Sanchez said.

Those who have signed the petition include Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus John Kenneth Galbraith, Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West '74 and Du Bois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr.