THE CASE OF DR. CONANT

But we can see no possible justification for President Conant's refusal to reinstate the two teachers as the committee recommends, and he has offered none. Since one of the two instructors who received promotions has now resigned, there is a vacancy for which Drs. Walsh and Sweezy are the logical candidates. When he appointed the committee of nine, President Conant said that there was ample time to reopen the cases if the report warranted it. There is still time and the report most emphatically does justify a reopening, yet Dr. Conant seems satisfied with things as they are. Apparently the shotgun went off entirely by accident but managed, by pure chance, to shoot the right men.

. . . Has President Conant any right to attempt to curb student interest in the social sciences by reducing the personnel in that field? Is the uniform conservatism of the Harvard economic faculty a matter of policy or coincidence? In either case, is it damaging to the university? Should a university president respect the views of his leading faculty members, or is he justified in following only the dictates of his own opinions? In the course of such an examination we may run squarely into the question of whether, as an individual, President Conant is the right sort to manage one of our most respected universities. --The New Republic