Oliver Attacks Affidavit Policy

Harvard students should be allowed to decide themselves whether to sign the loyalty oath and disclaimer affidavit and thereby secure a loan under the provisions of the National Defense Education Act, Donald W. Oliver, Assistant Professor of Education said yesterday.

The University originally took this stand but has since reversed itself. Now a student coming to Harvard "discovers that he is unable to take advantage of a privilege granted him by his government," Oliver asserted at the first "sandwich seminar" sponsored by the Graduate School of Education. He said that the University should reconsider its position and decide to "what extent it is responsible to the student and to the government."

Edwin E. Moise, James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and Mathematics, agreed that "the provision and Harvard's decision cannot be dismissed as trifles." This is because federal aid to education will soon be necessary, since it is becoming increasingly difficult for states and private groups to finance education alone.

Attacking the affidavit as an attempt to regulate beliefs rather than actions or expressions of the beliefs, Moise said that "this oath, a studied insult to intellectual freedom, may establish a dangerous precedent which will be followed through the next generation."