Mather Sees Applause For University Policy On Replies in Probes

Paeans of praise will balance the howls of public protest if the University remains firm in refusing to dismiss professors who invoke the Fifth Amendment, Kirtley F. Mather, professor of Geology, said last night.

Speaking at a dinner of the Harvard chapter of the Alpha Gamma Society, Mather stressed that many citizens are looking to Harvard to "uphold the tradition of academic freedom against the waves of hysteria sweeping the country."

Mather, one of the professors called before the Jenner committee at its recent Boston hearings, declared that the investigating committees "invariably force people to use the Fifth Amendment" by refusing to accept the First Amendment or other ways of refusing to answer.

They do this, said Mather, because they are seeking only to find people whom they can "crucify by the public ignominy which they suffer."