Loyalty Oath Petition Will Circulate Tonight

Petitions urging revision of the NROTC loyalty certificate will circulate in all college and graduate school dining halls tonight, Elmer M. Harmon '51, secretary to a joint committee of eight sponsoring organizations, announced last night.

The petitions that students will be requested to sign ask for elimination of the certificate's so-called "stool pigeon clause." That section of the certificate requires NROTC students to report other persons known to the signer as having associated with groups listed as subversive by the attorney general.

According to the organizations endorsing the petition, "such instructions not only will make NROTC students act as informers against follow students and others but will infringe on the rights of persons in no way connected with the Navy."

Unjust Persecution

Moreover, the petition continues, "the reporting of mere informal contact with organizations listed by the attorney general as subversive ... may result in unjust persecution of NROTC members."

Sponsors of the Petition are the following organizations: the Graduate Student Council, Liberal Union, John Reed Club, Young Progressives, and the University chapters of the American Veterans Committee. Teachers Union, National Lawyers' Guild and United World Federalists. In addition, the officers of the Young Republican Club have added their endorsement, pending formal club action.

The drive for signatures will continue through the week, after which the petitions will be presented to President Conant. Members of the joint committee are also considering forwarding copies of the petition to the Navy Department.

Recently the faculty voted to recommend through Captain Taber Bonney, professor of Naval Science, that the Navy revise its loyalty oath.