Subversion

There has been little notice of the battle for academic freedom in the press since McCarthy days, but indications are the fight has gone underground. Faculty at the University of California, Haverford College, and Columbia have framed resolutions condemning the current practice among security investigators of determining the liberal inclinations of federal job applicants by inquiring into students' academic pasts. "What did he talk about? What organizations did he join? Did he seem sympathetic to radical ideas?"

This sort of inquiry would probably be squelched rather quickly at Harvard, and it is likely that investigators would be too polite to ask such questions here, preferring to draw their own conclusions. However, in the state colleges and small liberal arts colleges this form of investigation will increase if not stopped, and the University of California resolution has already been denounced as "subversive." It asks that faculty members refuse to reveal "belief, attitudes, activities, and associations of a student regarding religion, politics, and public affairs in general."

The action by the faculty of these schools is an act of genuine political courage, and demonstrates the effectiveness of "united action" by intellectuals. Other land-grant colleges and independent schools might well follow this leadership, preventing governmental prying from going any further.