Too Little, Too Late

After months of official indecision, the Corporation has withdrawn from the student loan program of the National Defense Education Act, and given substance to Harvard's protest to the required Affidavit of Disbelief. In itself, the withdrawal is commendable, but it is both overdue and incomplete. For, if the NDEA affidavit is "lamentable and dangerous," as President Pusey has said, the identical loyalty requirement in the National Science Foundation Act is equally deserving of University rejection.

In the NDEA program, the University must receive the objectionable affidavits, as well as matching each nine dollars of Federal funds with one of its own. Other Federal programs--including NSF which Harvard has administered for eight years--require only distributing application forms and sending them back to Washington. But an affidavit in one program is as odious, and as unnecessary, as in another.

In withdrawing from the NDEA loan program, the Corporation has acted on principle. But freedom of belief and academic autonomy from Federal control must be protected in all programs of aid to higher education--including the NSF.

It would be ridiculous for the Corporation to assume that Harvard can keep its hands clean while administering any program which requires an affidavit. Even if the University does not have to supply matching funds, nor receive the affidavits directly, its involvement in the NSF program is unmistakable. Unless the Corporation follows its NDEA decision with an equally vigorous stand on NSF, Harvard's policy will lack consistency. Whatever the form of administration, all disclaimer affidavits erode freedom of belief and are an insult to the academic community.