Falk Faces Prison For Jury Contempt

Richard A. Falk. Milbank Professor of International Law at Princeton, is now facing contempt charges for refusing to testify before the Boston-based grand jury which is investigating the release and distribution of the Pentagon Papers.

Falk, who yesterday disobeyed a court order commanding him to testify, said at a Federal court hearing held late yesterday afternoon that his refusal was "a matter of conscience" and was based on his view of the grand jury proceedings as a "serious encroachment on academic freedom."

K. Dun Gifford '60, a former aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54, also appeared before the grand jury. Gifford answered questions concerning his name, occupation and place of residence, but refused to answer when asked if he knew Susan Sheehan, who writes for the New Yorker: her husband. Neil Sheehan, a reporter for the New York Times who wrote articles for that paper about the Pentagon Papers: and Daniel Ellsberg '52, who has admitted giving the Pentagon study to the press.

Gifford, who is chairman of the board of the Morning News, a national newspaper scheduled for initial publication next spring, cited the First Amendment as grounds for his refusal to answer these questions.

Samuel L. Popkin, assistant professor of Government, and Noam Chomsky, Ward Professor of Linguistics at MIT, were also scheduled to appear for questioning yesterday. Popkin did not appear because his attorney was unable to accompany him and will appear today, instead. Chomsky was released from questioning pending a court hearing, which will take place today, on his motion to have his subpoena quashed.

Falk's hearing will continue this morning at 9:30 a.m. Federal Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr., will also hear arguments on a motion filed by Idella Marx. Ellsberg's mother-in-law, who is seeking release from her subpoena.

Ralph Stavins, of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to appear for questioning before the grand jury this afternoon.

On October 4, Judge Garrity denied a motion filed by Falk that he be released from testifying in order to protect his academic and journalistic sources, specifically including Ellsberg. Falk refused to testify yesterday on essentially the same grounds, but this time in the context of a court decision that these grounds are not a valid reason not to testify.

A federal court on the West Coast has ruled that the First Amendment protected Earl Caldwell (a New York Times reporter who has covered the Black Panthers) in his refusal to appear for questioning, since his appearance would weaken his ability to obtain information from this "sensitive" source.

At his hearing before Judge Garrity yesterday. Falk contended that his appearance before the grand jury would hinder his access in the future to confidential--though legally released--information.

He underlined the importance of uninhibited academic freedom by noting that members of Congress "rely on scholars who have some independent access to...information" relevant to foreign policy-making, which, he said, is now largely controlled by the executive branch.

Popkin and Chomsky have also protested that their interrogation before the grand jury endangers academic freedom. Twenty-one Harvard professors, including Edwin O. Reischauer. John Kenneth Galbraith, John K. Fairbank, Karl W. Deutsch, James Q. Wilson, Samuel P. Huntington, Seymour Martin Lipset, and Doris Kearns, have signed affidavits supporting Popkin's argument.

Judge Garrity will hear arguments this morning on Chomsky's motion that he be released from testifying or receive the protection of a court order restricting the subjects on which Chomsky can be questioned