Ohio State U Disowns Wallaceites

Another left-wing student organization lost official college standing a little more than a week ago when Ohio State University withdrew recognition from the campus Students for Wallace. The controversy arose over the appearance of an unapproved speaker at a meeting of the Wallaceites.

O.S.U. has a ban against political speakers appearing on the campus. As a result all speakers must be approved by the University before they address a college group.

Business Meeting

For some time the O.S.U. Students for Wallace had been attempting to have the speaker ban lifted. On May 10 they scheduled a regular business meeting to be held on the campus. They were given permission by the administration to hold the meeting. There was no mention made by the Wallace group of the possibility of a speaker attending.

At the meeting, unknown to University officials, Herbert Phillips, the fired faculty member of the University of Washington and an avowed Communist, spoke to the group.

Professor Robert C. Elliott of the O.S.U. English Department, faculty advisor to the Wallaceites, had urged the members not to have Phillips speak. When Phillips appeared at the meeting Elliott resigned from his advisory position with the Wallace organization.

On May 18, the University's Council on Student Affairs announced that recognition had been withdrawn from the Students for Wallace organization. Mrs. Christine Y. Conaway, secretary of the Council indicated that the move had been taken because Phillips had not been approved and had appeared against the advice of the faculty advisor.

The loss of recognition means that the Wallaceites will no longer have official standing in the university. They will not be able to meet in campus buildings or otherwise use campus facilities.

A Mistake

Roy Kauffman, president of the Students for Wallace, said that the organization had made a mistake in having Dr. Phillips speak without proper authorization. However he maintained that the real reason for the Council's action was the politics of the Wallaceites, particularly their stand against the speaker ban.

An observer at Ohio State told the CRIMSON that Phillips was brought in deliberately to force the administration's hand on the issue of political speakers. He remarked that it was a bad time to try to change University policy because the state legislature is now discussing the O.S.U. budget.