At Least Half Dead

Suddenly and quietly, the giant armadillo that threw college administrators into confused indignance for some three years is dead--or at least half dead. The college faculties, among them Harvard's, had denounced the disclaimer affidavit provision in the government's student loan program as an "obnoxious" clause singling out educational institutions as special objects of suspicion.

Senator Morse's gentle murder of the beast makes it entirely possible--if House cocurrence follows--for the flow of loans to the colleges to resume. Nobody ever brought forward any serious objections to the ordinary loyalty oath the government always requires in its dealings.

It is undeniable that the Senate's continued inclusion of a clause specifying criminal prosecution in case a student belongs to a subversive organization still leaves a slightly bad smell hanging about the loan program. But the colleges and the Congress have held a position of impossible intransigeance toward each other for too long. The key issue of belief is gone; the substitute is a legitimate request. It is very much to be hoped not only that the House will agree, but also that the colleges will accept the NDEA compromise in cheerful spirit. If anyone is to decide that the substitute provision is obnoxious, let it this time be the students themselves.