April 28, 1968

Statement on Striking Students
[Rejecting "Bitter Pills" Resolutions]

We would first like to comment on President Kirk's statement of today, which differs from the proposed resolution of the Ad Hoc Faculty Committee. Unlike the proposal of that Committee President Kirk's statement does not provide for ultimate judicial power to be removed from the Trustees. In addition, President Kirk's statement merely asks the Trustees to authorize himself if to proceed with discussions concerning the gymnasium problem. Unlike the Ad Hoc Faculty Committee's Proposal, President Kirk's statement thus does not even provide for community participation in the decision on the fate of the gym, let alone community veto power or control.

We Striking Students reaffirm our six demands, including amnesty. Amnesty must be a precondition for negotiations. Our demand for amnesty implies a specific political point. Our actions are legitimate; it is the laws and the administration's policies which the laws have been designed to protect, that are illegitimate. Almost everyone has agreed that the underlying cause of the present crisis has been the policies and procedures imposed by the administration. Faculty apathy also has allowed this condition to exist.

It is therefore rediculous to talk about punishment for students. No one suggests punishment for the administration, who in fact must assume the guilt for the present situation. To consider discipline against the students is thus a political position. The question of personal discipline must be dropped so that the air con be cleared for examination of the structural root causes of the crisis.

The resolution of the Ad Hoc Faculty Committee has suggestions in it that could serve as useful approaches to the way the five demands besides amnesty could be met. In addition, the Resolution implicitly. suggests structures that could be developed within the University after the present crisis is resolved. We invite all faculty members, as wall as students and community, to the open hearings we are conducting on the questions of the substantive issues involved in our demands, other university policies that have come into question during the past few days, and structures we can sat up when the crisis is over to govern the university on a more just and democratic basis. We welcome and request student 31 faculty, and community proposals on these matters.

The Administration, through the threat of police force, has created a sense of urgency and panic which implies that-the primary problem on campus is restoration of order and normality, and not the political issues involved. Some members of the faculty have intensified this mood by presenting an proposal that doesn't get at the root causes of the crisis. The students who entered the buildings are risking a lot more than the punishments of any of the "compromise" suggestions. We are not afraid of punishment, but the notion of punishment at all undermines the political basis for a solution to the issues we have raised. We suggest that 311 those
who want to consider these real political issues attend and participate in our open hearings. The hearings will begin tonight in Wollman Auditorium at 7:30 PM.