The Mail: Letters Debate Parietals

To the Editors of the CRIMSON

Being a member of the Williams College Civil Rights Committee, I was pleased and proud of Harvard's suggestion that Wallace debate his views with a member of the faculty of the law school. The CRIMSON anticipated Wallace's refusal to debate and a proposal was made that the invitation be withdrawn. After all, if a man will not intellectually defend his code of action, then there is no reason for him to voice his prejudiced views at one of the country's foremost academic institutions. The final article, which I read of that date, stated that Wallace had absolutely refused debate and Harvard would probably withdraw its invitation for him to speak.

Today I read in the New York Heraid

Tribune that the governor spoke last night (November 4, 1963) to the men of Harvard. In his speech he not only defended the use of police dogs in Birmingham but also discussed his own political future. He expressed his opposition to the policies of the president by suggesting his own entrance into some of the presidential primaries of next year. He used the Harvard platform to profess his racist views and promote his racist views and promote his political ambition.

Needless to say, my admiration and respect for the qualities of Harvard's judgement were diminished by your allowing him to speak. Had Harvard allowed Wallace to speak only in an ordered debate of some kind, the college could have set a lasting precedent for the rights of man:

The college should at no time allow a totally biased and bigoted viewpoint to be unequivocally expressed from a rostrum bearing the college seal. Martin Wasserman   Williams College '64