1,000 Grads Hear Johnson Defend Freedom of Mind

The University drew praise once again yesterday for its defense of academic freedom. This time it came from Joseph E. Johnson '27, president of the Carnegie Foundation, who maintained that freedom of the mind will be vital in the necessary reappraisal of old concepts in the field of international relations.

Johnson joined David W. Peck, presiding justice of the Appellate Division, Supreme Court of New York, in addressing over 1,000 alumni from five of the University's Graduate Schools at luncheon in the Harkness Quadrangle.

Peck spoke on "Crisis in the Courts," which he claimed have "lagged in the grip of old forms and old ways." What he lamented particularly was "the cost and loss in economic and human terms of a court system which is excessively expensive and inordinately slow."

Cites Institutes Foundations

The Russian Research Institute, the Institute for Near Eastern Studies, and primarily the Harvard Foundation for Advanced Study and Research were cited by Johnson for their timely work in examining old concepts in world affairs. Johnson claimed that "there are many old concepts that no longer possess the same validity they possessed in the past and that nevertheless still mold our thinking about current world problems, sometimes to a dangerous degree."

He cited are examples the fact that war can no longer be considered "an instrument of national policy in the old sense" and the fact that non-governmental transnational activities now have marked effects on world politics.

Peck suggested that the jury system is one of the major factors in court delays and that in civil cases "it is quite time to question the value of the jury system and at least to see what effect it is having on the administration of justice."