SANDERS

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Last Friday evening the intended speakers at the Teach-In sponsored by a group which favors an American presence in Southeast Asia were driven from the stage of Sanders Theatre. They were forced to leave by the ceaseless chanting of persons who had come to the teach-in for the explicit purpose of depriving them of an opportunity to speak, and depriving me and others like me of the right to hear them. The attack upon our liberties was carefully planned and organized, and no amount of pleading or remonstration could induce the attackers to desist. They were asked to cease in the name of freedom. They chanted on. They were asked to cease in the name of peace. They chanted more savagely. And even when their violence had crushed the defenseless freedoms of others in the audience, their chants of power thundered on, though victory had deprived them of their victims.

As I left Sanders I realized that though I was not the object of the mindless chanting of the disrupters. I suffered nonetheless from its violence. When the speakers' right to speak was crushed so was my right to hear them. I asked myself where I might find redress; I who have no organized mob to support me and no ready means to defend my rights with force. When unchecked power raises its fist to smash my liberties, must I despair?

I hope that I need not. It is that hope which leads me to write these words to those within the Harvard community who have the means to defend my rights, which are the rights of all. I turn to them in the belief that they will not be deaf to appeals made in the name of peace, of freedom and indeed of life itself. The peace of the Harvard community is at stake, for should it not act and act firmly then Harvard shall become a place in which only those can thrive who promote their beliefs with violence and defend their rights with force. The freedom of the University and that of all its members is at stake, for where self-righteous force is the tyrant there is no freedom. And my life, and that of every peaceful citizen is at stake, for where the rights and freedoms which protect and insure life are held in contempt, where they can be trampled upon to establish the moral tyranny of a powerful few, there the life of free and peaceful men is gravely endangered. Being a Black American I am more keenly aware of these dangers than others may be. Black Americans have been robbed of the right of free political expression. They have been made to suffer persecution in silence. The lawless spirit which silenced their cries against oppression is the same spirit which drove the chanters in Sanders Theatre. From a belief in their moral superiority the chanters oppressed members of a political minority and battered them into silence.

In considering these events some may be tempted to extenuate the grievous attack which they constitute upon the freedom of the University and of its members. Some may counsel lenience in assessing punishment, citing the issue at which the conduct of the offending persons was aimed and the huge number who took part. They may believe that words of warning and condemnation will be sufficient to chasten the offenders and discourage repetition of their act. This will not be enough. What occurred at Sanders Theatre cannot be excused. Those who took part in it must be punished with all the severity which the University has at its command. If everyone who participated cannot be accurately identified then those who organized the disruption should bear the brunt of retribution for the actions which they instigated. Those who are students should be asked to leave the community for the rights of whose members they no longer have any respect.

The wrong that has been done is great. The course that is required is clear. I earnestly hope that it shall be adopted. and that the whole Harvard community will unite in support of it.