Harvard Duo Set to Debate Oxford Men

Two Law School students will defend the United States position in Vietnam later this month against Oxford opponents in a trans-Atlantic debate via Early Bird satellite.

The debate will be televised nationally at 10 p.m. Dec. 21 by CBS.

Laurence H. Tribe '61, a third-year law student, and Robert Shraum, a first-year law student, will represent the United States. Both have placed high in recent years in he National Debate Tournament at West Point. A third person, associated with the school, but not a student, will round out the team. The Harvard Debate Council conducted contests Wednesday night to select the student team members.

Paul J. Mundie '66, president of the HDC, said that it took more than six months to work out the details of the satellite debate. He explained the delay this way:

Plans Shelved

Originally, the show was to have been produced last spring by the British Broadcasting Corporation. In order to use the Early Bird during what amounted to a "free trial period," the debate was scheduled for some time during the Spring examination period. But a Harvard rule prohibits undergraduates from participating in extra-curricular activities during exam period, so the plans were shelved.

This fall, a BBC representative again contacted the HDC. He explained that the high cost of using Early Bird made it impossible for the BBC to produce the show--but when the rates were lowered, he said, the debate would be held.

CBS, which was to have handled the North American side of the transmission under the BBC plan, then informed the BBC that it was willing to produce the show this year.

That left only one stumbling block: the BBC version of the show would have been government supported, but the CBS plans called for a commercial sponsor. The University has a long-established rule prohibiting Harvard teams from appearing on commercially sponsored programs.

Harry P. Kerr, associate professor of Public Speaking and advisor to the HDC, asked the Corporation to suspend the rule. Wednesday, the Corporation denied the request.

The Board did agree, however, to let Harvard students participate in the debate if it was made clear that they were representing the United States and not Harvard. The Board also asked CBS to hold the debate in one of the network's New York studios instead of the Loeb Drama Center as originally planned. CBS agreed