The trustees of the university met and conferred Friday regarding the situation on the Morningside Heights campus. They expressed approval of the course which has been followed by the university administration and commended the restraint which has been exhibited by the administration and the overwhelming majority of the faculty and students in a most difficult situation.

In common with the administration and those great majorities, the trustees abhor the complete disruption of university operations and the illegal seizure and occupation of university buildings, perpetrated by a small minority of students, aided and abetted by outsiders who have injected themselves into the situation.

These activities have gone so far as to include the seizure of personal effects and private papers of the president and provost of the university.

The trustees have advised the president that they wholeheartedly support the administration position that there shall be no amnesty accorded to those who have engaged in this illegal conduct. Moreover, they not only support the president’s stand, but affirmatively direct that he shall maintain ultimate disciplinary power over the conduct of the university, as required by the charter and statutes of the university.

Insofar as the gymnasium is concerned, the trustees feel that the attempt to depict the construction of that building as a matter involving a racial issue or discrimination is an attempt to create an entirely false issue by individuals who are not conversant with or who disregard the facts.

However, the trustees have approved the action taken by the administration at the request of the Mayor of New York City on Thursday, April 25, to halt construction activities temporarily, pending further discussion by the trustees.

This action represented an appropriate response and a courtesy to the chief executive of the city at a time of tension.

The trustees expressed strong hope that the activities of the small minority, which have made impossible the free exercise of the academic rights of the great majority of faculty and students, will be terminated promptly and peaceably by those causing the disruption. The trustees are deeply grateful to the majority of the faculty and student bodies for their tolerance and restraint, which have made it possible for the administration to attempt to work out a peaceful solution. tHey concur, however, in the position of the president of the university that the rights of the majority may not be flagrantly violated and the functioning of the university disrupted for indefinite periods.

In consequence, they have expressly authorized the president to take all further steps which he may deem necessary or advisable to enable the university to resume its normal activities.