SCIENTIFIC WARRANT

To the Editors of the Crimson:

The graduate students of the History of Science Department, acting as a body, have voted the following:

1. We condemn as dangerous and unscientific, the racist, sexist, and anti-working class theories of genetic inferiority propagated by R. Herrnstein, W. Schockley and A. Jensen. There is no scientific warrant for ascribing to genetic factors the oppressed conditions of classes and ethnic groups.

Theories of genetic inferiority of races, sexes, or classes, facilitate and justify shifting the burden of the present economic crises onto those who are already the most oppressed. They place the blame for unemployment on its victims, instead of on its beneficiaries. Such theories attack the legitimate aspirations of oppressed people for a decent life.

2. We condemn the irresponsible support of such unfounded conclusions by the Atlantic Monthly, Harvard Educational Review, and the New York Times Magazine, through publication and wide dissemination of them, especially in view of the destructive political uses to which such views are put.

3. We oppose the faculty advertisement in the Crimson of November 29, as being pernicious, insensitive and misleading. Professor Herrnstein's article in the Atlantic is not a scholarly article and therefore the issue of academic freedom is irrelevant to this public and political controversy. We are furthermore concerned about the chilling effect of that advertisement on legitimate political actions and on reasoned discussion of the issues raised by Herrnstein's article.  Philip J. Lawrence, Secretary  Graduate Students of the History  of Science Department