SENIORS PREPARING for Commencement this year have a chance to express their support for a strike that is geographically distant but nonetheless of concern to everyone at Harvard.

Employees at Cotrell and Leonard--the Albany, N.Y., firm that manufactures the caps and gowns the Coop rents to students for Commencement--have been on strike since last summer. They have charged the company with a series of unfair labor practices, including threats to close should employees choose to be represented by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and intimidation of an employee thought to have given the union information.

The Harvard Coop ought to have chosen to boycott Cotrell and Leonard entirely. Since it has decided instead to offer an alternate cap-and-gown outfit, seniors should order the alternate. They must let the Coop know of their choice by April 26. Harvard is one of Cotrell and Leonard's larger and most prestigious customers, and a message from Cambridge might influence its management.