Bowles May Receive a Promotion; Brooke Plans Study of Loyalty Oath

Attorney General Edward W. Brooke will assign one of his assistants to study the Massachusetts teachers' loyalty oath soon. A United States Supreme Court opinion overturning an Arizona oath prompted the decision.

An opinion from Brooke's office holding the Massachusetts oath to be unconstitutional could mean the end of attempts by Harvard and M.I.T. to remove faculty members who refused to sign the oath.

While Brooke's opinion does not have the force of a court ruling, a prominent Boston lawyer said last night that the attorney general's opinion "would be basis enough for Harvard or any other private institution to concede the unconstitutionally of the oath."

The state's Department of Education is expected to ask Brooke for his official opinion. His opinion of unconstitutionality is sufficient if the department wants to stop requiring the oath from public school teachers, but the department is not bound to set policy in accordance with an attorney general's opinion.

Nor would any private institution be bound by his opinion, which could be overturned in court. If Brooke holds that the oath is constitutional, then he would just re-affirm present policy.

The same lawyer pointed out also that the Arizona oath which sought to "test" a person's loyalty differs greatly from the Massachusetts teachers' oath which merely seeks to "affirm" a person's loyalty.