The occupation of Mass. Hall by the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) gained support yesterday from local and national leaders as the sit-in entered its third day-and attracted its largest crowds yet.

Nearly 250 people participated in a noon rally in support of the living wage-including for the first time, large numbers of graduate students and union workers. Five protesters also left the building yesterday, marking the first departures since the occupation began Wednesday.

"It's been a very powerful day for us," one protester said last night.

Forty-one protesters remain inside Mass. Hall refusing to leave until the University agrees to a "living wage" off $10.25 an hour for all its workers.

At an evening rally, U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 stopped by to lend his support to the cause.

Kennedy tried to enter the occupied building, but was stopped by Harvard police. He spoke briefly to the crowd, eliciting cheers when he announced his support of the sit-in and said that he would call University President Neil L. Rudenstine to ask for a living wage.

He noted that student activists were at the forefront of the civil rights movement and the Earth Day movement.

Similarly, AFL-CIO Union President John Sweeney called the supporters "courageous" in a phone call to the building-one of many union voices heard yesterday.