Cornell President Defends Position On Nixon Speech

The President of Cornell University has officially replied to criticism levied at his school Saturday in a special Ithaca edition of the CRIMSON. The editorial attacked Cornell for sponsoring a college press conference with Vice-President Nixon tomorrow at Cornell, which will be televised nationally over CBS.

President Deane Malott said yesterday that "the invitation to Nixon was offered a year ago before it was known he would run again." He said he has also invited presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson and his running mate to speak on campus.

Restates Criticism

Last night, the CRIMSON held to its orginal stand by issuing the following statement:

"The telegram (inviting college editors to Cornell) and personal invitation (to Nixon) certainly imply official sanction, and regardless of when the invitation was sent, Cornell, by letting the Republican National Committee sponsor on nation-wide TV a portion of what the University asserts is 'educational' is permitting an educational institution to become, as we have said, the dupe of one political party.

"The invitation to Stevenson seems like a last minute gesture and, really, pointless since Cornell can't offer the Democrats free TV time. If the Republicans hold a nation-wide TV press conference for the Vice-President, that is fine; if Cornell holds an educational workshop with the Vice-President, that is fine, too, if it is planned from the beginning as part of a non-partisan program. But to permit the combination of the two is highly regrettable for any university, and highly misleading for the public."