Faculty Hails Censure; HYRC Takes No Stand

Yesterday's Senate vote to censure Senator Joseph R. McCarthy will substantially improve the United States' prestige abroad and diminish "mass liysteria" now prevalent within the country, four faculty members who have opposed McCarthy said last night.

Meanwhile, the Young Republican Club decided by a vote of 20 to 15 not to take any stand on the issue in order "to preserve unity an allow diversity of opinion" within the organization.

(The U.S. Senate yesterday condemned by a vote of 67 to 20 McCarthy's failure to appear before an investigating subcommittee in 1951 and 1952 and cleared the way for final action today on two other censure charges.)

"McCarthy on Skids"

Samuel H. Beer, professor of Government, said that he "expected the censure all along" and predicted favorable reaction from non-Communist nations all over the world. "People abroad haven't realized that McCarthy is on the skies? and consequently have attributed too much influence to the Senator, he said.

Beer, who led in the formation of a "Citizens for Censure" group last Monday, said that the Senate vote would also "make McCarthyites realize how small and weak they are."

Three other faculty members who signed a pro-censure petition under the auspices of the Liberal Citizens of Massachusetts were unanimous in acclaiming the vote in condemnation of McCarthy.

Pitirim A. Sorokin, professor of Sociology, said that "McCarthy is causing more harm to American democracy than all the Communists put together." The same sentiment was expressed by George Sarton, professor emeritus of the History of Science. "McCarthy deserves the worst kind of censure," he stated.

Methods Labeled "Bad"

John D. Wild, professor of Philosophy, found the censure vote "very encouraging and an affirmation of the dignity of the Senate." Wild said that the McCarthy methods, such as "preying on mass hysteria," have thus been labeled "definitely bad" by the action of the Senate.

At the same time, HYRC president John W. Stephens '55 praised his club's decision not to act on the censure issue, stating it would keep the organization united and help to attract new members. Speaking only for himself, however, Stephens said that the Senate's censure vote would benefit the Republican Party on the national level.

The fact that only 35 of the HYRC's 300 members attended yesterday's meeting "certainly had nothing to do with the climate of fear" that McCarthy is supposed to have created, Stephens asserted.

Arguments at the HYRC meeting cen- tered not upon the censure proposal itself but upon whether the club should make policy decisions on issues within the Republican party.

Many members supported the censure but stated that any action would bring about dissention within the club. A proposed resolution to "enthusiastically support the action of the Senate" never came to a vote at the meeting.

"I damn McCarthy in private, but as a club we can't afford to," one member said.

Meanwhile, supporters of censure action by the club emphasized the importance of taking a forthright stand on the McCarthy issue. "Are we scared, are we playing patsy?" asked one member. "We have to voice our opinions regardless of pressure groups," he declared.

A few members asserted that by failing to take any action the HYRC would suffer a loss of local prestige and would invite "derogatory remarks" by the CRIMSON