10
 

THE ASSAULT ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM
 

As phflosophers from Plato down to John Dewey have repeated,
the most important element of all in the moulding of a people's
mind is education. The anti-democratic, anti-intelleetual dema¬
gogues of today also realize this. That is why they have made
such mighty efforts to stimulate heresy-hunting and thought con¬
tiol in the schools, colleges and universities of the United States.
They proceed on the sound assumption that what happens to
American education will be a primary factor in what eventually
happens to America.

Few schools, colleges or universities in this country have been,
even in the best of times, lOo percent faithful to the principles of
academic freedom. Since World War II the situation has grown
much worse. During the 1948 elections several college teachers
lost their jobs because they supported the Progressive Party and
its presidential candidate, former Democratic Vice-President
Henry A. WaUace. In 1953 W. Lou Tandy, Professor of Economics
and Sociology at the Kansas State Teachers CoUege, was dis¬
missed for signing a petition to President Eisenhower asking that
he pardon the eleven Communist leaders jailed as a result of the
first Smith Act tiial. This was particularly outiageous because the
First Amendment guarantees "the right of the people ... to pe¬
tition the Government for a redress of grievances."

In a special study of seventy-two colleges and universities
throughout the United States, The New York Times reported in