Well-Practiced Policy

Pete Seeger '40 has been associated for many years with left-wing causes and radical activities. Yet his appearance at New Lecture Hall last night occasioned neither demonstration nor heckling, despite the threats of the Conservative League to picket the performance. Seeger's appearance and the comments and questions it has aroused, nevertheless, call for a reaffirmation of the University's well-established and courageous policy in regard to the speakers permitted to appear before its undergraduate body.

In the wave of action to Communism which occurred in the post-war years, many people strongly protested the appearance of such people as Gerhart Eisler before University audiences. When Eisler spoke in 1948 and 1949 on such topics as "The Marxist Theory of Social Change" newspapers and commentators throughout the country branded the University as "Communist-run" and called upon the administration to ban Eisler and his ilk from the University scene.

Dean Bender, then Dean of the College, made a statement which stands as the University's answer to such critics. "We believe that freedom in the College provides the best climate for the growth of toughminded, mature, and independent citizens," he said. "If the Dean's Office were to attempt to decide who would be allowed to speak to a Harvard organization, whose views were safe and whose weren't, the views of those permitted to speak would then carry Harvard's endorsement. Furthermore, it would be impossible in practice to agree on what speakers threatened to corrupt our youth. Some people would bar President Truman, other Senator Taft."

As a result of this policy, Harvard organizations may continue to choose their speaker's freely without Dean's Office censorship. Meanwhile, when radicals do appear, their views go clearly labeled. Seeger's political views were well-known before he sang, and Seeger himself, during the performance, noted that his songs were "propaganda songs." Knowing what they face, Harvard students can carry on their activities without fearing censorship which could be more repressive and harmful than beneficial. Seeger's audience last night was not denied enjoyment of his singing simply because of his politics, and the University community again reaffirmed that it still practices the freedom it preaches.