M.I.T. Decides to Keep 3 Former Communists

The three M.I.T. professors who identified themselves as former Communists last week before the House Un-American Activities Committee last week will be retained as members of the faculty, it was announced last night.

James R. Killian, Jr., Tech president, and Karl Compton, chairman of the M.I.T. corporation, made the announcement in a joint statement last night.

The faculty members are William Ted Martin, head of the mathematics division, Isadore Amdur, associate professor of Chemistry, and Norman Levinson, professor of Mathematics. All three talked willingly of their past associations and mentioned other supposed Communists, including Wendell Furry, professor of Physics.

"While we in no sense condone the earlier associations with Communism of the three professors, nor would we tolerate the presence of an unknown Communist on our faculty," the statement said, "we are convinced that since the true nature of Communism became apparent to them some years ago, they have been free of any sympathy for it and have disassociated themselves from it completely."

"They have spoken with candor about their past activities, and we are convinced that they are teachers of integrity and loyalty."

"Because of our confidence in them, as well as the candid manner in which they have reported on their past associations, we find no cause to change their status at the Institute."

At the same time it was learned that the Jenner Committee has scheduled more hearings involving alleged Communists in education for a week from today in Boston. Names of the witnesses will not be announced in advance.

The statement said the decision to retain the three men was made by the Executive Committee "after a thorough review of the records of the three men and after hearing the report of a faculty committee which examined their cases."

In his testimony before the Committee, Levinson had urged the government to set an "amnesty" program to encourage people to leave the Communist party and be accepted back in free society without being "damned."

Amdur testified that he had been a Communist for six years prior to 1944. Martin stated that he had joined the party in 1938 and quit it in 1946 when he decided the party was doing nothing to help the world's unfortunate.