Page Four.

SCARLET AND BLACK

Friday, March ll, I960

 

_—.

National Defense E

Ed note — In view oi the
co mg Student council (“5- '
cussion concerning the Na-
tional Defense Eullcntion tic! l
and in view oi the iact that l
a bill to repeal the disclaim- l
(:r affidavit. of the act is now
on the Senate agenda, the
Scarlet and Black has printed, I
ior Student's intorrnatinn aiiil
reference. the iollowing states
nieiit prepared by President
Bml'en in nuary and res
leased to this paper for pub-
lication.

4‘ it at 4
by Dr. Howard K. Bowen,
President, Gl'ilulell College i

The National Dctense Edutar
tioii act oi 1953 established sev—
eral programs ot iederal aid to
education, One part ot the act
provided iunds for loans to col-
lege students. These loans arel
administered by the colleges
with Hillartelill’ls oi the money
derived trom the federal gov—
ernment and oliertenth iroin
college sources In the closing
hours ot the Congressional ses
sion in which the act waspas —
ed, an amendment was added,
section laolti). winch required
the participating colleges to ad.
minister a loyalty oath and (“Sr
claimer anidavit to all appli—
cants tor loans Each student‘
applicant is required to submit
two Sworn Statements,

I, ' do solemnly
sivear (or anirm) that I will
, bear, true talth and allegiance
to tiie United States of Alncr-
ica and will support and dc.
tend the Constitution and laws !
oi the United States oi Amer.
ica against all its .cnemies,
ioreign and domestic,

I, .. .. . do solemnly
swear tor onirmi that I do
not believe in, and am not a
member oi and do not Suns ‘
port any organization that be—
lievcs in or teaches the over
throw at the United Slates;
government by iorce or vior l
lence or by any illegal or un»
constitutional methods, l

The act provides that if an‘
applicant makes any “false, l'icsl
tltious or fraudulent blateinents‘
or representations on the real
quired anidavit. he is subycct to,
a tine at 510,000 or imprison
merit of not more than ﬁve
years, or both."

Grinncll college (along with
other institutions) has decided
not to accept icderal tunds
for student loans so long as
this amendment in ellcct.
Sinee this decision became
known, several letters have
been received irom alumni
and iricnds. Some have laud—
ed the decision, tew have pro-
tested, but most have merely
asked tor an explanation or
the reasoning underlying the l
decision. Apparently the issues
are not generally understood.
In this memorandum I shall

 

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Optometrist

Across from post office

 

ducal-ion Ac‘r

owen: Stand Taken By

try to state the reasons tor the
position tdkcn by the college.

Sequence of Events at Griliilcll

When the National Defcnse
Education act was passed, Grills
noll college applied [or luntls
and rcccivcd an allotment [or
the ﬁrst year at less‘than $1000.
In early 1959 l-announccd our
participation subject to the con-
dition that any student who
could not in good conscience
sign the loyalty oath and d
claltllcr aﬁldavit would receive
loans from non-federal Sources,
A {cw chcl‘al loans were made
by the college during the ﬁrst
year,

In May of 1959 a resolution
was adopted by the taculty res
questing that the president and

the Board of Trustees oi the 6017‘
[unds i
made available by the Notiontll‘

lcgc' decline the loan

Defense Education act,

I transmitted the rcsoiutiun
to the Bollrd of Trustees with
the iollowing statement: I am
inclined to think the faculty
is right on this issue and that
we should not he in the pos
tioii oi accepting federal nion-
ey when undesirable condi-
tions are attached. It enough
colleges take this position, the
chances ‘of repeal of the oli-
jectionable section will be im-
proved, and the chances at
avoiding undesirable controls
in connection with future fed-
eral legislation will be ens
hi’Inccd.

At their meeting in June 1959.
the trustees adopted the recom-
mendation at the faculty.

In the meantime :l bill
been introduced
in the Spring of 1959 by Sena
tors Kennedy and Clark to re
peel the loyalty oath and disc
claimer affidavit. Tile trustees
suggested that 1 write the mem-
bars at the loud delegation in
Congress asking them to Vote
for repeal. This I did,

One or the Congressmen, with»
out my permission, released my
letter to the press. Tile result
was a considerable amount of
publicity in Iowa papers

had

naily killed the Kenncderlarlt
bill by a vote ot 49 to 42,

Since Slimmer additional inr
stitutions have joined Gl'innell.
A new round at publicity was
started recently when l-lnr.
vard, Italc, Oberlin and Wes
leyan tot Connecticut) in.
nounced withdrawal troni the
program.

The Position of the Academic
World

‘At present the institutions

into Congress ‘

dun,
mg the summer. The Senate oil

which have publitly withdrawn
,lrom the tedcral loan \prcgram
are, Amherst, Antioch, Bunnlllgr

,nell, Harrard, 1' uvcrtord, Mills,
Oberlin, Princeton, ltoed, St.
,iohn's (Maryland), Sarah Low.
;rcnce, Swarthmorc. Wesleyan
gtCoiinecticuti, Wilmington, Yalc.

i In addition, pi . tents
boi ds or the iollon mg insti—
tutions have publicly taken
positions against the
meat oi the loyalty oath or
, disclaimer atiidnvit: Bales,
l Boston college, Bowduin, Chat-
i tanooga, Colby, Colgate, Drch
e1 institute. Earllltun, Univerr
sity oi llawaii,
Teachers college, University oi

college. Manhattan, Millsnps,
University at Oregon, Univcrr
sity ot' Pennsylvania, Rellsses
lacr, University at Rhode 157
land, R00. velt, \thuton
(Massachusetts), Wisconsin
State college (Eau Claire),
University oi Wisconsin mid
Yankton.
i‘ Many other institutions
simply not applied tor the men
cy and have said nothing about
their vic\\'s, A recent ieport iiir
dictates that about 600 institu-
,tions are in this categor

Also, an oliicial position op-
posing the loyalty oath and (iiSr
claiincr allidavit has been taken
by the Association oI American
Colleges. Association ot Ameri-
can Uiiivcisitics, American As.
sociation oi Land Grunt Colleges
and Universities, Amer ican
lCouncl on Education. American
lAssociation or University Pro-
ics. rs and the National Educw
ltion committee.
) Throughout, the attack has
i been centered on the disclaim-
l or anidnvit rather than on
the loyalty oath. though it is
sale to say that neither is Wei»
coined in academic circles.
l The Secretary oi llealth Edu-
cation nntl Weliarc, Arthur
Flemming, has also publicly
lopposed the provisions, and
l President Eisenhower recently
l voiced opposition to the uni—
tldviL ,

Some Preliminary Arguments

To rcqtllre special swoiii
.tatemcnts of applicants for stu-
dent loans is discriminatory
and is regarded in educational
circles as another attack on in.
'tellectuals Nearly ciei-y citicen
ot the United States is now rer
cclvihg government bounty in
one term or anotlleriizli'lncl‘s,
businessmen, home owners, rc—
tlred people, veterans, etc To
single out students lrom all

 

tun, Bryn Mdu'l', Gaucher, Gun»)

require- l

Iowa State ,

Iowa, Kansas Shite, Lake Erie ,

. i
hate,

Colleges Can Help

lthcsc groups tor a test of loy ‘

lalty is discriminatory and insults-
iiig. l
. Moreover the iequilcmcnt is
,dise immator as between those
,studeiits who need money to
lcollege and those who do not.
,Thc requirement, il insatiable
lat all, is as necessary for stu.
dcl‘i_ Whose puienls are ablCi
lto pay their way as tor students
,who need noancial help .
The loyalty oath and dis
claimer anidavit are inctice
l tire. The truly disioyal per-
’ son has no compunetion about
signing such statements and
would not be converted to
loyalty by having done so,
i The multiplication oi “oaths"
and “all‘ldav‘, encourages d .i
respect oi sworn statements in
igt‘nt‘ral. In the JutlaeosChl‘lsllan
tradition, the taking ct an oathI
h' been considered an act ofl
great moral signiﬁcance. To re
quire one tor the borrowing oi
a tow hundred dollars is to
cheapen a moral dct and to one
lcouragc a light-hearted attitude|
with respect to sn-orn slate-t
l nii'nts.

Tllcsc

are important argu-
ments, but they do not get tor
the heart of the matter Thcl
following arguments are the‘
signiﬁcant ones

,rrccdoni of Thought and Speech.

The basic concept or a uni-
versity or college is that it is
n place where Students anti.
teachers are tree to search tor
the truth. Experience has
shown that pursuit oi truth
and the advancement oi '
knowledge is encouraged int
an atmosphere where ideas oi i
all kinds can he considered,
advocated and rciutcd. Error
is discovered, and truth ud-
vaiiccd by this process. i

Any rule that declares CED}
ltain ideas out at bounds or that
(entorces certain beliets is con
’lrary to the Inndamcntal plltr‘
pose oi a university or college.
To ask an institution or higher
education to administer an oath
ito students regaiding their be
lliets is contrary to the b ~ic
ethic ol the academic proicssioii.
It is like a, mg the legal pr .
Iession to opposc instice or the,
medical protesslon to violate;
the Hippocratic code

The academic profession is
especially scnsit , to infringe-
ments.0n academic treedom be
cause there are many social
pressures today, both seen and
unseen, tending to limit the}
range ,ot ideas that may be)
taught or discussed in our,‘

 

 

 

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chools and colleges

A college that aspires to ex-
cellence must be c rciul to
saicgunrd ireednm or thought
and speech because competent
faculty members are attracted
to those institutions which
have meticulous regard tor
these trecdoms and repelled
irom institutions which limit
these ireedoms or which do
not resist limitations imposed
trom outside.

Not only is humor or thought.
and speech the basic concept or
a university or college, it is
also one oi the tundamental
rights in a democratic society.

lThe ﬁrst amendment to the con—

slilutitln ls Intended to safCr
guard this right The theory oi
democracy is that through tree
discussion at issues, with all
points of view expressed, poli—
cies bcsi tor the people will
emerge

On the other hand. the mark
oi an authoritarian government
is ils attempts in regulate men's
actions by controlling their
thoughts and their utterances.
One oi the most characteristic

land repugnant features of a dice

tatorship is that it punishes peo-
ple ior what they may think
and say, as distinct from their
Di‘ci’l actions

The disclaimer oilidnvit is
inconsistent with the spirit oi
democracy in that it discrimi—
nates among individuals be-
cause at their beliets. Even
the loyalty oath is contrary
to the American tradition as
embodied in the Declaration
oi Independence. It could not
have been subscribed to by
Washington, Franklin, Jcner—
son, or Lee.

Trust

Another ieaturc of.a demo—
cratic society is trust of the in—
dividual, This is expressed in
the principle that people are
reg ed as innocent until prov—
cd guilty. The spirit of the my
EDUCATION ACT
Cont. next page

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