KISSINGER CANCELS TUFTS TALK BECAUSE OF PROTEST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201060031-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: April 3, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000201060031-8
ARTICLE APPEARED,
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ON PAGE_______
BOSTON GLOBE
3 April 1984
Kissinger cancels Tufts,
tili because of protest
By Ross Gelbspan
Globe Staff
Because of a planned protest.
former Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger has canceled an appear-
ance Friday at Tufts University.,
where he was to discuss US-Soviet
relations.
Tufts officials, apparently dis-
mayed by Kissinger's decision, said
yesterday they did not believe the
demonstrators would disrupt the
all-day symposium on Soviet-
American relations, part of year-
long activities to mark the 50th an-
niversary of the Fletcher School of
Law and Diplomacy.
Kissinger is one of seven former
diplomats invited to take part in
the symposium, which is to be vid-
eotaped for possible future broad-
cast.
in -a prepared statement,. Kis-
singer 'said, "Some leaflets distrib-'
uted by the organizers contained a
level of abuse compatible only with
the desire to produce confrontation
rather than serious dialogue."
Leaflets distributed by the pro-:
test organizers, bearing a cartoon
linking Kissinger to US policies in
Vietnam, Cambodia, Chile and
Central America, indicated the
demonstration,was intended to
protest what they labeled "US mili-
: tary buildup in Central America,
[President Ronald) Reagan's CIA
war against Nicaragua and US dis-
regard p Human Rights in El Sal-
vador. ?"
Kissinger headed a special com-
mission appointed by Reagan that
last year recommended $8.4 billion
in economic aid for Central Amer
ica and a significant increase', In
military aid to El Salvador. . v
.Symposium will take place
Curtis Barnes, director of com- i
munications for Tufts; said .the
symposium will take place as
planned.
"We feel we could have handled Hissinger statement
it," Barnes said. "We knew some
students at MIT and other schools In his statement, Kissinger added,
were coming over to demonstrate "I am sure my colleagues will un-
with some Tufts students. We ar- derstand my decision to withdrawn
(ranged space for them. The Tufts since several of them especially.
students had no problem with -the, [former Secretary of State] Dean
arrangement. They wantedtb ?Rusk - have in their day exper
they did not want to interfere with
the conference."
Tufts, President Jean Mayer; - in
a statemen yesterday, afternoon.
added:l'T ' 'personally convinced
that thI lrespect all of us at Tuftp
have for the First Amendment---
and the cariful preparations taken
to ensure security during the sym-
posium 'would have ensured that
the demonstration would have
been held =under dignified circu'm-
starices.and would not have Inter-
fered with iree,expression."
David Gbw, a spokesman f'or;-lie
April 6th Committee, which is co-
ordinating the protest, said it'-wlll
go on outside the Fletcher school aS
scheduled.: :.
Ed Feigen}, a Tufts student an}l
one of the organizers of the com-
mittee, said yesterday that "while
the April 6th Committee never "in-
tended to prtvent Kissinger from
weedo feel that the ink
sprgkingMe
rity of Diversity is : benefited'
by his abse ce fr'om Friday'~g, fo-
rum.'.
Feigen said the ' committ6'. 're-
garded "the cancellation as a- major
victory for those ... who support a
foreign policy based on negotia-.
tions, justice and peace over mill- {
tary. Intervention and gunboat di-.
plomacy.'.: L' i
Stressing . that the ,committee'
had no plans to disrupt the forum,
Feigen said that the demonstration
will consist of.a series of speeches;
,
some street theater and other en-
tertainment. Feigen denied that-
Tufts had promised space to ?the'
demonstrators, :. '
Fletcher's dean, Theodore Eliot,:
said, "Both as dean of the Fletcher'.
'School and as a -former associate of
Mr. Kissinger, .I ,greatly regret the
circumstances which gave rise to
his decision." ' .
Noting that one of the groups'
sponsoring the demonstration IS.
the Marxist-Leninist Part y. Eliot'
said, "As I witnessed first hand as,
ambassador to Afghanistan, propo
nents of Marxism-Leninism are.
scarcely noted for their advocacy of
academic freedom when they are in_'
power." -
Besides, disk, the remaining
participants in the symposium in-
clude George W. Ball, Warren M:
Christopher, C. Douglas Dillon, El-.'
Dot Richardson and Walter J.:
Stoessel, Jr., all former under sec-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000201060031-8