Hollander Raps U.S. Handling of Stalin's Daughter

Paul J. Hollander, assistant professor of Sociology, yesterday criticized the State Department for its treatment of Svetlana Stalin. In a letter to the New York Times, Hollander accused the State Department of giving "considerations of political expediency ... primacy over humanitarian principles."

Stalin's daughter, after defecting from the Soviet Union while in India, applied to the United States for asylum. The State Department refused her request and arranged for Miss Stalin's asylum in Switzerland, apparently because of fear of adverse Soviet reaction.

Hollander said yesterday that he did not think this would promote better Soviet-American relations. "This is just my private feeling," he said, "but I think the only Soviet reaction is probably one of contempt."

He said that the letter's purpose was not to pressure the State Department into reversing its decision, but rather to express his "anger and annoyance" at what he called a "stupid and pointless" policy.