Students Oppose Red Investigation HLU Poll Reveals

Almost three-quarters of the undergraduate student body is strongly opposed to Congressional investigations of the nation's schools and colleges, according to the results of yesterday's Liberal Union poll.

A full 80 per cent of the 1200 students returning polls expressed disapproval of the way in which the investigations have been conducted. Almost 75 per cent maintained that alleged Communist infiltration of the University is not a sufficient threat to warrant Congressional action. Over 60 per cent said that the investigations have already proved harmful to American education.

Liberal Union Political Action Chairman Philippe Villers '55 hailed the poll results as "surprising."

"This conclusively shows that today's Harvard students oppose the methods of the investigators," Villers said.

Opinions Extreme

Student comments on the investigations often reached extremes. "McCarthy is a greater threat to democracy than Malenkov," stated one poll. Another said simply, "It's about time they cleaned out the Commies."

One student suggested, "If they're going to investigate colleges, they'd better start on churches, too. A lot more people go to church than to college."

Also included in the Liberal Union poll were questions concerning the magnitude of the Communist threat to the United States and the problem of students called to testify before the committees. Almost 90 per cent termed international Communism a serious threat to the U.S. and over 55 per cent said that students should not be subpoenaed. Numerous complaints about poor and ambiguous wording forced the Liberal Union to discount the results of these questions, however.