Asner told the students that President Reagan is lying to them.

It was some time ago that all this happened, before finals and the approach of summer pressed more immediate thoughts than the war in Central America upon the students of Taft High School. Maybe the memory is growing dim by now.

Still, Ed Asner makes the kind of appearance that is as hard to forget as it is to follow. And some students may still be wondering how you answer a man like that.

It was late in April when Asner, the president of the Screen Actors’ Guild, brought his voice of opposition to the Reagan Administration’s Central American policy to the Woodland Hills campus.

The visit was arranged by Taft history instructor Sid Pastor, a friend of the outspoken actor. About 200 students from several history and government classes gathered in a small auditorium to hear what Asner had to say.

While Asner waited off stage, Pastor, a young and energetic teacher in a well-cut blue suit, introduced his friend as “a fellow human being who feels a deep sense of compassion and love for other human beings, particularly those in Central America.”

Pastor cautioned the students that they would be hearing only one view of “this difficulty we’re having in Central America.” He promised to give them the other one about two weeks later. He said he planned to ask either Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) or Rep. Bobbi Fiedler (R-Northridge) to send a speaker to Taft.

Then that familiar presence mounted the stage--the ring of shaven gray hair, the squat form, the choppy, muscular stride, the intense look in the eyes. It was the gruff, honest, hard-hitting, ruggedly sensitive newspaper editor that Asner created in the role of “Lou Grant” on the popular television series.

What he said was hardly new. His criticisms of the Administration’s policies have caused a highly publicized rift in the Screen Actors’ Guild, drawning rebuttal from such fellow actors as Charlton Heston.

Even for a young audience, Asner chose not to restrain his tone.

He told the students that President Reagan is lying to them. He accused the Administration of supporting a ring of “mercenaries and soldiers of fortune” who are brutalizing villages and killing innocent people in a campaign of terror.

Reagan, he said, has “made us the global bully and he’s done it with lies and deception.

“I don’t enjoy knowing the lies,” he said. “I was brought up believing that the presidency was a very honorable office. I would prefer being able to trust the guy. But I can’t and I don’t.”

Pointing to large charts on the stage that listed the various factions in Central America, Asner outlined the basics of the conflict. His analysis led to the conclusion that the aid Reagan was at the time seeking for the anti-government contras in Nicaragua was military, rather than “humanitarian and logistical,” as the Administration contended.

Then he showed a short video that he said was made by his friends. It contained footage of the Administration-backed contras in training exercises using American weapons. Other scenes showed the bodies of men and women the narrator described as civilians murdered by the contras.

“Since 1982,” the narrator of the film said, “there have been more than 8,000 casualties including more than 3,000 deaths from contra attacks.”

When Asner asked for questions, one or two tried to counter his figures and opinions with short and timid speeches. But most of the students wanted to know what they could do.

“I hope you’ll get involved, for God’s sake, and for your country’s sake,” Asner answered.

“Most of here aren’t of voting age,” one student suggested. “Is there anything that we can do right now?”

“You can participate by learning as much as you can,” he said. “Take nothing for granted. You have to get off your butts and pursue as avidly as you can alternative sources of information. Never trust one.”

Another student asked Asner what they should expect the speaker from the other side to say.

“They’ll lie to you,” Asner said.

Whatever the verdict may be on anything else he said, Asner was wrong about that.

As may be apparent by now, there was no speaker from the other side.

Pastor said he called both Fiedler’s and Wilson’s offices without success. The problem, it turned out, was that neither office had a speaker available on such short notice.

Representatives for the two elected officials said they maintain only constituent workers in Los Angeles. To produce a qualified speaker on Central America, either office would have had to bring a legislative expert from Washington. That would have required a formal request and advance planning. There wasn’t time.

Pastor said he also called Channel 7’s conservative commentator Bruce Herschensohn, but Herschensohn wasn’t available.

So finals came along, and Congress moved its attention to the budget. Summer vacation is now imminent. And some students may still be wondering what you say to a man like Asner.