LAMB'S TALE

Writing in the current "Nation" Mr. Robert K. Lamb, formerly an instructor in Economics here, declares in reference to the recent Walsh-Sweezy case "Once more Harvard has fumbled the ball. Once more the university, in its dismissal of two liberal economic instructors has exasperated its friends and delighted it critics by a clumsy substitution of one impracticable subterfuge for another" Amidst an angry undercurrent of rhetoric, Mr. Lamb moves laboriously on to make his final, crushing point. This it turns out, is that "Harvard has moved a long way to the right. Now a formation of a teachers' union in the Yard . . . . causes the authorities such acute discomfort that the organizers are dismissed." Mr. Lamb then hints darkly that "Universities need a continuous flow of funds from benefactors, and concludes that although presidents of universities may feel liberal they must "act tough toward liberals because we don't see how we can afford to act otherwise."

Obviously there is nothing in this article that could annoy readers of the "Nation" since it is written as their editors demand all articles for publication in that biased, one-sided journal to be written. Filled as it is with innuendoes slurs, attacks on Overseers and the like, Mr. Lamb's little excursion into fancy is such as will delight those who are averse to looking into a simple administrative problem, simply and honestly.

The complete illogicality of the charge that Harvard dismissed the two men because the wealthy, and wicked benefactors of the University were protesting the so-called "liberal" activity of Messers. Walsh and Sweezy becomes apparent when the political beliefs and activities of some other members of the Faculty are recalled. Surely Professor Frankfurter is not a man pleasing to the all-powerful Rightist oligarchy, which Mr. Lamb believes, controls the University policy. Certainly James M. Landis, Dean-designate of the Law School was not a man whom the "Wall Street bankers who now help administer Harvard's finances" would have chosen. The list of professors, and instructors of leanings decidedly to the Left of Center could be extended indefinitely. Indeed, complaint has been heard that the University has staffed its Social Departments with too many men of Leftist inclinations, but the main point to be observed is the utter folly of such charges as Mr. Lamb's ill-considered attack. Bitter wars of words can do no harm to an institution like Harvard, where academic liberty is as firmly entrenched as any vested interest, but such alarms and excursions as Mr. Lamb's essay will bring nothing but discredit upon their author.