Hoffmann Criticizes NAC 'Tour'

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

As a faculty associate of the Harvard Center for International Affairs whose work has never been subsidized or utilized by the Government, and can hardly be called friendly to it. I want to express my indignation at the harassment of the Center by the November Action Committee. One may have political or moral reservations about some of the Center's professors'individual work, or individual connections with the Government: one may have academic reservations about the relevance of some of the Center's activities to the rest of the University. But the core of the Center consists in individual and collective research that is legitimate under any political, moral or academic standards.

The blanket charges against the Center as a bastion of United States imperialism would be comic, were it not for the despicable methods and threats which accompany them, and for the willful ignorance of the Center's resources and operations on which these charges are based. It is in the interest of all members of the Harvard community, regardless of political opinion or field of study, to condemn and to discourage what, under the noble pretense of fighting imperialism, amounts to nothing but an ominous attack on academic freedom.

To be sure, such freedom has often been abused, or used to shelter misdeeds. There is an urgent need to reexamine the responsibility of social scientists and to revise the relations of universities or university agencies with public policy. But it is not up to a fanaticized band of vigilantes of any persuasion to decide which activities are allowed to continue and which places must be shut down. Should one be indifferent in this instance, who knows who will be struck next? Tactics such as those of the NAC can-only delay necessary change, and whatever worthy aims they have can never be served by means that are a grotesque mix of truculence and terror.