Faculty Revolt Does Not Surface, But Strains Appeared Yesterday

Alerted by Joseph Kraft's recent newspaper column, Boston newspapermen swarmed outside yesterday's Faculty meeting to see if Kraft's prediction of a Faculty revolt against the Harvard Administration would come true.

The reporters went away disappointed. No open revolt occurred at the meeting. There were, however, enough sharp voices of Faculty discontent to indicate that some very bitter fighting may be expected in the future, when the Faculty takes up two touchy questions: how it will discipline its members, and how it is to be governed (the Fainsod report).

After the meeting, Dean Ford admitted he saw a considerable amount of rancour among the Faculty, although he added that some of the splits of last Spring now seemed less sharp.

NEWS ANALYSIS

Three general lines of dissension were voiced yesterday:

The most radical Faculty members-Hilary Putnam, professor of Philosophy and Arthur MacEwan, associate professor of Economics-sharply attacked the disciplinary decisions hammered out for the University Hall incident, principally on the grounds that the occupation was, at least, an excusable act. They received slight applause and some hissing.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics-who Kraft said would call for a no-confidence vote on President Pusey-questioned both the procedure used to discipline Faculty members last Spring and the way Pusey selected the members of the new University-wide Committee on Governance. A similar line of questioning came from Michael Walzer, associate professor of Government and leader of the liberal caucus. Expressing doubts probably shared by many liberals on the Faculty. Walzer questioned the proposals for future discipline of Faculty members.

Lawrence Wylie. C. Douglas Dillon. Professor of the Civilization of France. made the most general and most applauded statement. He said he felt overwhelmed by the sudden proliferation of committees, and especially by the way the Faculty's representatives were being chosen. Instead of the current selection system-in which the representatives are chosen by and from the Committee of Fifteen-Wylie said he would prefer to have the Faculty directly elect its representatives.

Though the immediate issue was the extent of the Committee of Fifteen's mandate-President Pusey and Dean Ford defining it widely, while Wylie and other Faculty members claiming it was more narrow-the underlying question was whether the Administration was using the Committee as part of a holding action against Faculty demands for more direct power.

Alan Heimert '49, Master of Eliot House and the Committee's spokesman, even made a joke about how some Faculty members no longer saw a distinction between the Administration and the Committee of Fifteen.

There probably is such a distinction, for an impression also emerged at the meeting that the Administration had not always followed the advice of the Committee- particularly on the "shadow cases" of teaching fellows involved in the occupation of University Hall, but not mentioned in the original fact-finding report on the occupation.

Pusey Defends Action

Pusey said he had accepted the Committee's recommendation that these four teaching fellows be asked to discuss their University Hall activities with their department chairman. But MacEwan, one of those so summoned, said that what had emerged took on more the character of a formal disciplinary proceeding, with detailed charges and the requirement that the four submit a statement.

Somewhat the same impression of tension between the Administration and the Committee of Fifteen came out in another incident. Heimert made a point of stressing that the Committee would continue its work on governance questions while the new Committee on Governance- on which all Committee of Fifteen members would sit in rotation-explores the same subject.

If two committees-one established by the Overseers, the otrer by the Faculty- do continue to explore governance, their reports could be quite different. And that difference might set the stage for the Faculty revolt expected yesterday, if it hasn't already happened by then.