Retreat at NYU

AT A MEETING of black students last week, John F. Hatchett, director of New York University's Martin Luther King Center, called Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon and United Federation of Teachers leader Albert Shanker "racist bastards." Two days later Hatchett was fired as director of the Center by NYU president James M. Hester, who said that Hatchett "has proved to be increasingly ineffective in performing his duties because of the incompatability of many of his actions and public statements with the requirements of the University." NYU students quickly occupied two campus buildings to protest the firing, and a student strike is now being implemented to demand Hatchett's full reinstatement.

The NYU administration's claim that Hatchett's statements on public figures disqualify him from holding his job at NYU (which was, in effect, to become a non-academic dean of black students) is both impolitic and indefensible.

The Martin Luther King Center was instituted by NYU in the aftermath of Rev. King's assassination last April. The move was an imaginative and innovative one, and seemed to indicate a willingness to take certain risks on the part of the NYU administration. But the Hatchett ouster has shown that when faced by an atmosphere of racial tension and strong pressure from outside the university, NYU lacked the conviction to follow through with its project. President Hester could hardly have expected any other student reaction to his retreat than the one which developed.

The NYU administration could not seriously believe that Mr. Hatchett's views on Shanker and the candidates will impede his managing a cultural and social center for blacks students at NYU, Hester's statement in this regard is disturbingly reminiscent of the arguments of right-wing legislators who view radical anti-war professors as "unfit" to hold university positions. There can be little doubt that the NYU action was influenced less by any dispassionate appraisal of Hatchett and his responsibilities than by the racially charged circumstances under which Hatchett's statement was made, and the public pressure on NYU which that atmosphere produced.

The underlying issue in this controversy should not be race, but academic freedom. The freedom to express one's views is fundamental to any university. Except when such views are directly related to a university official's responsibilities, this freedom of expression must always be regarded as absolute, regardless of the unpleasant consequences it may occasionally incur.