Athenaeum Plans Four-Man Debate On Oppenheimer

The Athenaeum has secured four speakers for its debate Tuesday night on the topic, "Should Oppenheimer be James Philosophy Lecturer at Harvard."

The forum has been scheduled despite the refusal of a "considerable number" of Harvard and MIT professors to defend openly the appointment of the controversial physicist, William C. Brady '57, spokesman for the conservative debating club, revealed last night.

Brady indicated that the general sentiment among the individuals who declined the invitation was that "the less noise made about the thing, the better." One prominent Harvard professor replied that "The issue is above debate." Brady added.

The Athenaeum expressed its opposition to the Oppenheimer appointment in letters to President Pusey, and has contended that nothing which affects the University is either "above or below debate."

The group's forum will include two members of the American Civil Liberties Union, who will argue on the affirmative side. They are Howard S. Whiteside '34, Boston attorney and counsel for the A.C.L.U., and Chase Kimball, formerly professor of law at Boston University Law School.

Debating for the negative will be Medford Evans, a member of the Atomic Energy Commission, which in 1954 denied Oppenheimer further access to atomic energy secrets, and Willmore Kendall, assistant professor of Political Science at Yale.