Walkout at Brown

In the turbulent '60s, students frequently went on strike to protest such weighty matters as the war in Southeast Asia, the draft or national political problems. Last week students at Brown University took to the picket line to speak out on what is strictly a campus affair: the school's projected budget cuts and the lack of any student voice in the decision to slash expenses.

The dispute that led to the walkout began with a February announcement by President Donald Hornig, a science adviser to President Johnson, that Brown would have to trim its budget by 15% and its faculty by 16.5% over the next three years. The school was facing a $4 million deficit and could no longer afford to support its full academic program, one of the most innovative in the Ivy League. A student committee met with the administration but could not work out a compromise. When it became apparent that the university was adamant, the students voted last week to boycott their classes.

Higher Costs. The strikers argued that financial aid to needier students was not keeping pace with increasing college costs (tuition, room and board will be increased by $620 next fall, while the average scholarship will rise by only $66). They also want Brown to drop plans to fire junior faculty, to admit more minority students, and to include students in budget decisions.

During the week, some 30% of Brown's 5,119 undergraduates remained in class, while others marched outside buildings with signs saying CUT CLASS, NOT FACULTY and organized workshops on subjects ranging from "sexism awareness" to "prison reform." The faculty did not take a stand, and most teachers showed up for class. Robley K. Matthews, chairman of the geology department, urged his professors to deliver their regular lectures even if not a single student was in the room; he also advised them to make sure that topics covered in last week's lectures would "figure heavily in the final examination."

President Hornig was more understanding, conceding that the strike was "a reflection of the pressure on students of rising costs and a kind of austerity they haven't learned to live with." Nonetheless, he added, "It is not clear to me how staying away from classes hurts anyone but the students involved."

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