Council Group to Meet On Reply to McCarthy

Representatives of 12 college organizations will meet tonight to frame a statement in response to recent charges by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy about Communism at Harvard.

At the same time, it was learned that the Student Council is also considering action on the McCarthy statements. President Paul D. Sheats '54 last night said the action would come within the next week, but its exact nature has not yet been decide.

The dozen groups compose the Harvard Student Council committee on Undergraduate Organizations on Academic Freedom, an ad hoc committee set up last spring by the Council to speak for undergraduates on questions concerning congressional investigations and academic freedom.

Inaugural Meeting

Tonight's meeting is the first in the committee's history. The group was organized last April but never met because the activity of the congressional committees tapered off in late spring after an unusually buzy February and March.

The committee was called into session this week by Chairman Anthony C. Bellen son '54 in an attempt to "mobilize student opinion" and "speak for as many students as possible" on the recent McCarthy statements.

McCarthy this month called Harvard "a smelly mess . . . where children are open to indoctrination by Communist professors." Later, in an interview with the CRIMSON, he claimed that there is a "large groups of communist professors at Harvard" who have been indoctrinating their students with communist philosophy.

To Aim for Perspective

Explaining the efforts of both the Council and committee, Sheats last night said, "In a matter such as this which is of such vital interest to the student body, the Council feels a strong responsibility to faithfully reflect the student's opinion and present this opinion as forcefully as possible."

Under the powers given the committee last spring, it may either issue statements by itself or make suggestions for council action. The committee can only issue a statement if there is unanimous agreement among members, whereas they may recommend action by a simple majority.

Members of the committee are as fol lows; the Liberal Union, the Young Republican Club, the Young Democrats, the Society for Minority Rights the World Federalists, the CRIMSON, Students for Non-Violent Action, the United Nations Council, the Catholic Club the Episcopal Society, and the Christian Scientist Society.

The Council can then act according to the advice of students whose experience is more specialized than the Council