JEFF FRAZIER REPLIES

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

In his recent letter Mr. Burt L. Ross reveals a very muddled misconception of the issue of free speech on campuses.

Mr. Ross would probably agree that no college anywhere should ban a speaker simply become he is unpopular--as Yale banned George Wallace, and many state universities ban Communists. The administration's responsibility is to keep "hands off." But those of us in student organizations who actually invite speakers should not fall into the sterile intellectualism of assuming that every speaker has a serious, intelligent view to present.

Certainly, as students we must never close our minds to those who disagree with us. But we must also recognize our own responsibility to the college and to society to maintain certain minimal standards of scholarship. Sponsorship is not a neutral activity--especially for a partisan political organization.

A man with views like Wallace's is entitled to a soapbox and to police protecties-nothing mere. No student group serves the cause of free speech by giving such an individual a responsible platform.

If the Young Democrats who sponsored Wallace and the students who west and applauded him felt a moral commitment to the Negro's cause, they would not find it necessary to seek enlightenment from a racist. Nor would they brush aside so lightly the dangers Wallace and his followers represent to the very survival of democracy in America. Indeed, judging by the audience response reported in the press, students seem to lack even as intellectual commitment; they do not appear to know the most elementary facts about conditions in Alabama or the constitutional basts for civil rights.

There is much to be done in both North and South, and time is short. Students who have spent their time watching dancing bears sing and political groups with power plays should re-think their values, and re-direct their activities.

We are all responsible for the evils of racism. We must all concentrate our efforts towards the goal of eliminating the George Wallace's the Ross Barnett's, and the Mrs. Hicks's. --Jefferson Frazier '64