Around the Rotary

IT'S GOOD THAT there was sufficient worldwide protest against his nomination to convince Wolfgang Wick, a former member of the Austrian Nazi party and of the S.S., to withdraw as a candidate for the presidency of the Rotary International. But it speaks ill of that organization, and specifically of its central nominating committee, that Wick's candidacy was not terminated immediately after authoritative information about his sordid and criminal past became known. And it is to the discredit of the Boston Rotary chapter that they made no formal protest of the Wick nomination and instead professed a desire to wait until the Rotary International responded to the evidence produced by war crimes investigator Simon Wiesenthal and corroborated by Wick himself.

The Rotary International consists of a network of clubs in countries throughout the world, providing services for traveling members, mostly businessmen, and ostensibly dedicated to fostering international understanding. Rotary's main connection to the Harvard community originates from the annual fellowships it provides for study at foreign universities, fellowships which several Harvard students take advantage of each year.

As a member of the Nazi party, even during the period when it was illegal in Austria, and as a member of the S.S., the party's genocidal elite, Wick was obviously an enthusiastic participant in Hitlerism. That men like him escaped trial and imprisonment and were allowed to rejoin society without paying any penalty is in itself unfortunate; according an honor to Wick is a repugnant offense to the memory of those who died at the hands of the barbarous organizations to which he belonged.

One bright side of the Wick affair was the announcement of Marla Miller '76, a Rotary Fellowship winner, that she would not accept the award if Wick became the Rotary head. Miller, who has no alternative funding and is planning to study in England, invited other Harvard Rotary winners to join her in her protest, but apparently none contacted her. Her action stands in contrast to the morally vacuous behavior of the Rotary leadership.