Council Reaffirms Right of Probing College Activities

The Student Council, solidly endorsed by Dean Watson, last night defended its right to investigate undergraduate organizations, following a challenge by the reactionary Conservative League.

The League had formulated an executive statement that "the Student Council has no jurisdiction whatsoever over the activities of undergraduate political clubs once they have been given the Dean's recognition."

David B. Cole 1G, secretary of the League, said his group was referring to the Council's investigation of the controversy between the members of the Political Forum and John R. Thomson '57, president of the Young Republican Club.

In the same statement, the League gave "the recent policies of John R. Thomson . . . wholehearted approval," and added that it will help to try to dissuade conservative speakers from speaking here. This was in obvious reply to a petition submitted to the Council which would call for Deans' Office action against such maneuvers.

The Council said, after conferring with Watson, "it is the proper role of the Council to act through the existing club machinery to negotiate a settlement, and, as a last resort, in the absence of agreement, to recommend appropriate action to the College administration."