Radcliffe and the AYD

Early in the term, the president of the Radcliffe chapter of the American Youth for Democracy refused to turn in a membership list to the Radcliffe Dean's Office. She claimed that because membership in undergraduate political organizations was inscribed on a student's permanent college record, the chances of future employment for RAYD members would be imperiled. If the RAYD persisted in refusing to turn in its list, it would lose its charter, since college rules require every organization to submit names of members each term.

After working on the problem for a number of weeks, the Radcliffe Student Council came up with a proposal on Monday which tried to satisfy both the administration and the RAYD. This proposal is that membership lists be submitted each term, but that only the names of club executives go down in the permanent record, the rest of the names being destroyed by the Dean at the end of the year.

There is a sound administrative reason for demanding membership lists: to use the Radcliffe name, an organization must prove itself bona fide and of reasonable size. Under normal conditions, this reason would be enough to justify the official position.

But in the case of the Radcliffe Youth for Democracy, something else enters the picture. The AYD, of which Radcliffe is an autonomous chapter, has been called "subversive" by the federal government. Any member of this "subversive" group is running the risk of being considered "subversive" for the rest of her life. Employers may or may not check a girl's college record carefully; if they do, and find that she was a member of the AYD, they will be inclined to turn down her application-- to be on the safe side.

There is one employer who always checks the record, and that is the United States Government. The fact that a girl was once a member of a "subversive" organization would probably bar her from a federal job, even if she had joined the group for only one term.

There is still another side to the problem. If there is no iron-bound assurance that AYD affiliation will not pop up from college records in the future, many girls will hesitate before joining that organization. In that measure, the Radcliffe authorities would be unwittingly aiding the enemies of free political choice and belief. It is quite possible that the RAYD could not muster enough members willing to risk their careers to hold a charter this term, or next term, or sometime in the future. The RAYD would simply be forced out of existence.

That, of course, cannot be what the Radcliffe administration desires. Everything should be done to make it clear that each girl can belong to whatever organization she happens to agree with at the moment, without fear that she may be jeopardizing her future. The latest recommendation of the Student Council that the Dean destroy membership lists at the end of the year seems fair. The recommendation, however, leaves to the Dean's discretion what should be an official ruling. The destruction of membership lists to keep political affiliation out of the permanent records should be a part of the Dean's Office procedure, so that Radcliffe students will be protected not only by administrative discretion and good will, but by an official and permanent act.