Student Witnesses Bombard Barnes Bill at Final Hearing

Hearing on the Barnes Bill drew to a close yesterday as students from the University and other Massachusetts schools took the State House witness stand and blasted the anti-Communist measure on three counts.

Led by S. Douglass Cater, Jr. '46 1PA, representatives of local student governments and political groups told the State Committee on Education that the Bill was dangerous, unnecessary, and impossible to execute.

Among the witnesses were Richard W. Kimball '50 of the Student Council, Irene Tinker '49 of the Radcliffe Student Government Association, and representatives from Suffolk, Simmons, Tufts, and Wellesley.

Acting as co-ordinator for the student testimony, Cater claimed that Communist teachers present little danger to "alert and politically responsible students," who can figure the truth out for themselves.

Professors Shouldn't Be Hindered

"Education would be a farce," he said, "if students felt that professors were being barred from any area of inquiry."

Cater cited the many graduates and undergraduates present to testify as proof that students are now "more alert and responsible than ever." When these representatives were cross-examined, he remarked after the session, "they held up well, and showed they had thought cut the problems for themselves."

Following Cater's statement to the committee, Kimball quoted the Council's resolution against the Bill. Miss Tinker pointed out that students from all over the earth come to Cambridge because it is one of the world's greatest educational centers and that "any proposal like the Barnes Bill would be detrimental to the free flow of thought that should characterize great institutions."