A Senseless Siege

Opened in 1925, the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute is widely regarded as one of the best seismology centers in the world. Its staff of 200 includes specialists in a wide range of fields relating to earthquakes, from chemical volcanology and crustal deformation to structural geology and geomagnetism. Its six-story quakeproof building houses a seismological library and a radio telemetry system that links the institute with some of its 20 field seismographs. Despite quake-prone Japan's urgent need for seismological research, however, the institute has been at a standstill since the summer of 1970; its 14 professors and nine associate professors have been barred from entering by a handful of employees and radical students who man a sentry box by the gate round the clock, ready to form a human barricade at a moment's notice.

The bizarre lockout stems from a brawl that erupted in 1970 over the request of a temporary employee for permanent status. The employees' union and the students banded together to close down the institute, and since that time, the banished professors have had to hold meetings off campus. No new research projects have been initiated, and the institute's earthquake-prediction work is hopelessly behind schedule.

The patience of the faculty has begun to wear thin. In February, Tsuneji Rikitake, a renowned specialist in electromagnetism, left for the University of Colorado. He is the second institute scholar to flee to the U.S.: in December 1972 Hiroo Kanamori moved to the California Institute of Technology.

The 50th anniversary of the destructive 1923 Tokyo-Yokohama quake last September brought on new earthquake jitters in Japan and spurred a government effort to end the impasse. Veiled threats from the Ministry of Education that it might set up a new earthquake institute elsewhere finally led to negotiations, and six weeks ago, the union voted to end the strife. But the intransigent students, demanding "sweeping reformation" of the institute, vowed to continue their siege.

Last week, determined to bring the issue to a head, the institute's director, lyetsune Tsubokawa, showed up at the gate with several professors. Police were summoned, and removed the howling students, permitting the faculty to enter. But their triumph was short-lived; as soon as the police left, the students rushed in, evicted the professors and resumed their senseless lockout.

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