Colorado's Invitation To Copland Rescinded

Noted composer Aaron Copland ran afoul of the University of Colorado's fear of "controversial" personalities last year.

Copland had been invited to deliver a series of guest lectures on music at the University during the past academic year. But disturbing facts began to come to the attention of University officials. It was learned that Copland had been accused of Communist associations and that one of his musical compositions had been withdrawn from the program of the Eisenhower inauguration because of the protests of an Illinois congressman.

Faced with this information, University officials decided that discretion was perhaps the better part of valor, despite the fact that Copland had denied all Communist affiliations before a Congressional committee. The president of the University subsequently notified Copland that the lecturing invitation had been cancelled.

The action drew a sharp protest from the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which called upon the University to disregard "legally unsubstantiated political criticism... and consider only the individual's competent in his chosen field."

Copland was Charles Eliot Norton Lecturer at Harvard in 1951-52.