NO TIME FOR STOP-GAPS

Put on the spot of "intolerance" by its refusal to allow distribution of Communist pamphlets last week, Harvard is now facing nationwide criticism. In its erroneous news story, the New York Times went so far as to imply a full-fledged university drive against the "red menace." Perhaps blinded by the nearness of the horizon, the Yale News perceived a "grim portent" and editorially lamented that "the university which has given more liberal thinkers to the nation than any other should be the one to lose faith in academic freedom".

Fortunately, facts will not bear out this saga of declining freedom at Harvard. Not a university law but an unwritten custom prevented the Young Communist League from distributing its message from door to door. Any other group, whether left or right, harmless or vicious, would have met with the same refusal. But the mere fact that an "unwritten law" should crack down particularly on the more politically minded members of the university gives it an unsavory aura. No matter what the origin of this law, no matter what the original purpose, its present function is dangerous. It has almost become a stop-gap to the flow of ideas.

Quickly and easily can the problem be solved, and the next Student Council meeting is the place. University Hall--though willing to cooperate in a change from "unwritten law" may find itself stumped by a mere technicality. If all "legal" student organizations are allowed to distribute pamphlets, the Young Communist League, by reason of its concealed membership, will be automatically exiled. But such suppression need not exist. The material, and not the "legality" of the organization, should be the criterion. Whenever a college group has something worthwhile to say, it should bring its pamphlet to a University committee aimed not at shielding undergraduate minds but at keeping advertising material from front door mats. Only then will a sincerely written Communist message receive as much freedom as the Lowell House Chronicle, and only then will rumor of a Red drive at Harvard go down for an irrevocable count of ten.