A Commendable Stand

SCIENTISTS ARE NOT GENERALLY KNOWN for political activism. And the academic community at large is not generally known for its oneness of mind on controversial issues.

'Star Wars,' President Reagan's exhaustive drive for space weaponry, is an exception to both rules. A pledge by professors not to do any federally-sponsored research with Star Wars funds sprang up at two university campuses--the University of Illinois and Cornell University--at the end of the last academic year. Now the pledge is at more than 40 campuses. At 12 of these schools, a majority of the physics faculty members have signed. One third of Harvard's physicists--several of whom said they could not remember a similar adamant outpouring since the Vietnam War--have signed as well.

On the other hand, virtually no established academic authorities have come forward to defend the Star Wars' technical feasibility. The pledge against the program, laden with signatures of Nobel Prize winners, comes from those who know about space technology and its limits and who have the moral courage to tell the world that Star Wars is an ethical and practical fiasco.

The refusal of these scholars to sanction the Star Wars farce is, for many of them, directly contrary to their material and academic interests. Many of the most prominent signatories would be able to use the money to work on pet problems in their areas of expertise. Their stand is therefore all the more remarkable and morally instructive.

We agree with the pledge's signatories that Star Wars is "ill-conceived and dangerous," and we join with them in urging their colleagues to follow their example.