“ Question of effectiveness ” Hesburgh explains

by Dave McCarthy In a news conference held y e s t e r d a y F a th e r T heodore H esburgh, C .S.C., p residen t o f N o tre D am e, to ld new sm en w hy, w hen 21 colleges and universities (inc lud ing M IT, C ornell, Vassar, H oly C ross, and D uke) have decided to suspend classes from fo u r days to tw o w eeks to allow s tu d en t political cam paigning, N o tre Dame had postponed a referendum on th e suspension un til O c to b er 2nd. “ Tbe w hole q u estio n o f effec­ tiveness cam e o u t ,” he said. “ The reason we p u t it in O ct­ o b e r in s tead o f having it right away (M ay, 1970 a t the tim e of th e K ent-C am bodia crisis) was becuase a lo t o f th ings happen over th e sum m er, th e political situ a tio n changes.” He added th a t it was a tim e to test the can d id a tes’ reactions to w hether or n o t they w anted s tuden t he lp . “ T h a t tu rn ed ou t to be p re tty m u ch o f a m ixed bag ,” H esburgh said. W hen asked w h eth er he fa­ vored th e suspension o f classes F r. H esburgh rep lied , “ I ’d be inclined to take a long , long look a t it; and I w o u ld n ’t say I ’d be personally in favo r;” b u t he add ­ ed , “ Being fo r o r against th e idea is no t th e sam e as being fo r or against political ac tiv ity ...I’m very m uch in favor o f the vote for 18 year olds and political involvem ent by s tu d e n ts .” He sum m ed his feelings when he said, “ I d o n ’t know how our referendum is going to com e o u t. All I can say is th a t th e feeling across the co u n try is less en thusiastic than it w as.” W hen asked if he though fail­ u re to suspend classes w ould result in cam pus un res t Fr. Hes­ burgh said , “ N o. This is n o t a crucial p o in t .” He was asked w hat specifical­ ly was being done at N otre Dame to quell cam pus disorder, and he answ ered, “ H ere you get som e k ind o f consensus on w hat k ind o f place yo u w ant...A nd I th ink it’s p re tty lo u d and clear a ro u n d here th a t people d o n ’t w ant violence, they do n ’t w ant b u r n i n g , th e y d o n ’t w ant peop les’ rights tro d o n .” H esburgh’s op in ion regarding s tu d en t unrest was sought. He said , “ I th in k th e cu rren t s itua­ tion is fairly bad fo r Universities generally. I th ink the n e t of m uch th a t has h ap p en ed is th a t the general public is som ew hat dow n on U niversities; at least th a t is th e reac tion I get w hen I try to raise m oney fo r the Universtiy . T he general feeling is th a t things have gone to far, go tten o u t o f h a n d .” He also rem arked ab o u t th e im age o f th e s tu d e n t saying, “ T he s tu d en t has g o tten an im age th a t is u n tru e and very b ad ; b u t i t ’s been g round in to peop le ...and th e w hole rep u ta ­ tio n o f s tu d en ts , facu lty , and ad m in is tra tio n has gone dow n .” He denied ex ten d in g security m easures a fte r te rrorism at the U n iversity o f W isconsin, in w hich one m an was killed. H. p rescribed “ n o th in g preventive (continued on p. 6)