CITIZEN'S STUDY

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

A student in my course has told me that an anonymous person called him to ask whether his instructors were teaching "strange and dangerous things." He asked specifically about "history and social studies kinds of courses." On the student's request, the caller identified himself as "a member of an organization of citizens." On the student's further request for the name of the organization, the caller remarked that the name was "irrelevant."

Is this "citizen" interested only in the mental welfare of the particular student he called? Or has he singled me out for investigation? Or is he suspicious of the History Department or the Social Studies program? Or is he after "strange and dangerous" teachers in general?

I do not know. But I would like to know if other students have received similar calls, or if other Faculty members have heard of similar requests for information about themselves or their colleagues. Either the "citizen" was an isolated nut, or an amateur harbinger of an amateur witch hunt. On this question I think it is important to be touchy.

Could others who have unwittingly served as the objects of the "citizen's" study send me a note at Adams B-17, or call me, late, at 491-2440? John Womack Jr. '59   Instructor in History