A Need For Leadership

The University's delay in taking definite action on the National Defense Education Act has been a source of amazement and disappointment both here and at other schools. That Harvard not only failed to lead the opposition to the loyalty provisions in the Act but also failed to follow the lead given by Princeton, Swarthmore and other institutions no doubt comes as a shock to all those who picture the University as the nation's champion of academic freedom.

The objections to the loyalty oath provisions--particularly to the disclaimer affidavit--have been made clear time and again; they warrant only quick review now. The affidavit is obnoxious because it is a vaguely worded attempt to assure conformity to an officially "safe" norm of belief; because it singles out the academic community for suspicion of disloyalty and requires that students, unlike any other class of people, must reaffirm in writing that they are loyal; because it constitutes a dangerous Chauvinist precedent for any future federal aid to education acts; because, finally, it alienates the loyal while failing to protect in any effective way against the disloyal.

Dean Elder proposed last week that Harvard lead a "large concert" of universities in pushing for legislative action to remove the disclaimer affidavit provision from the NDEA. At the same time, Senator Kennedy emphasized the need for effective protest at the student level. The Student Council has created a committee to study the question, and, although the exact purposes and plans of this group are unclear, the move is a step in the right direction.

But the University's action to date has been far weaker than the situation demands. It is not enough to "freeze" the NDEA funds without following this step by an almost immediate withdrawal from the student loan program. It is not enough to write a few letters protesting the loyalty provisions to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, who is on the colleges' side anyway.

Kennedy and Clark are not the only men in Congress willing to fight to have the loyalty affidavit removed from the NDEA. But they need help from the colleges and universities that are directly affected by the Act. They need help to answer such charges as "Hundreds of colleges, including Harvard, have accepted the NDEA," and "Not one student has written in to protest the loyalty oath."

If the students, Faculty, and Administration are serious in their opposition to the loyalty affidavit, they must prove it with direct and quick action. If the affidavit is not repealed soon, it will never be, and it will be an obnoxious part of every future education bill.