THE SPIRIT OF DUBOIS

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I should like to make two points concerning the ongoing controversy between certain African-American faculty members and administrators. First, if the level of debate between Professors Kilson and Guinier is a reflection of the African-American intelligentsia's grasp and articulation of the African-American situation, it is little wonder that street-and-prison-educated people have consistently filled the ranks of the African-American leadership since the death of W.E.B. DuBois.

Second, why have the men surrounding President Bok not pointed out to him that W.E.B. DuBois was a radical all of his life and a COMMUNIST in his last years? It would be more consistent with Harvard's treatment of DuBois and its relationship to the ideas which DuBois spent his life giving substance to if they ceased calling their institute by his name and used some other name, e.g., the Booker T. Washington Institute. Surely the spirit of the men (neither radical nor communist) who surround President Bok in this venture is more in harmony with the spirit of Washington than the spirit of DuBois. Ivory T. Robinson   Ph.D. Candidate   Gov. Department