INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY

To the Editors of The Crimson:

An article in The Crimson of April 30 quotes a Harvard professor of Social Science who seems to believe that recent actions of the faculty at the Institute for Advanced Study merely constitute an attempt by the Institute's mathematicians to dominate it. Therefore your readers should be informed of the following facts: (a) A faculty vote opposing a recent nomination of a sociologist was as follows: 13 opposed, 8 in favor, 3 abstaining; but of the 13 opposed, 5 were professors of Historical Studies. (b)At the meeting at which the nomination was voted down, the faculty passed a motion which read "The faculty supports the creation of a strong program in social science", by the following vote: 15 in favor, 2 opposed, 6 abstaining. (c)The present professor of Social Science, Geertz, was appointed after a faculty vote in which there was no opposition. (d)Of the 17 members of the faculty of 27 who have publicly voiced their lack of confidence in Dr. Kaysen, 8 are professors of Historical Studies.

It is therefore false to say that the opposition to the nomination in social science and the lack of confidence in the director constitute no more than a mathematical conspiracy to dominate the Institute.

The undersigned are professors in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute. Kenneth M. Setton Homer A. Thompson Morton White Harold F. Cherniss   Marshall Clagett   James F. Gilliam