Liberals Safe From Spying, Watson States

Members of College liberal and progressive political groups need not fear that their names will be revealed to the government or to prospective employers in connection with these groups, Associate Dean Watson said yesterday.

He claimed that since he has been on the administration, the College has never released this information, although it has been requested to many times.

Watson's statement came in connection with a denial by Hiram Bingham, chief of the government's Loyalty Review Board, that membership in a "suspectedly subversive" club would bar students from federal jobs. Bingham said that no one had ever been fired or barred from a government job merely because of his connection with a political group while he was an undergraduate.

Law May Change System

Watson warned, however, that in the event of a new law by Congress, or a court order, the University would be forced to turn over membership lists of undergraduate organizations.

Rumors have been rife here that F.B.I, and armed services intelligence men have plagued Watson for information on various alumni's political affiliations when in college. But, while admitting that questions on this point have been numerous, Watson emphasized that it is not the administration's policy to release the details of a student's extra-curricular life.

The Yale Daily News had prompted Bingham's statement, in running an editorial alleging that Yale graduates were being refused positions with the government because of connection with so-called liberal, progressive, or confessedly red organizations during their college days.