University of Virginia Library

Unveiled Threats

Perhaps the students and faculty
of this University owe Mr. Robert
Rosen a vote of thanks for writing
his disturbing "Prospectus for the
University." Not, to be sure, for his
carefully selective and highly
unbalanced invocation of that most
complex figure, Thomas Jefferson;
but rather for an exposition of the
Rosen program that even Mr.
Rosen's, carefully constructed
facade of commitment to
"democracy" cannot conceal.

For it appears that the primary
goal of Mr. Rosen's endeavors is
neither democracy nor "rights" nor
justice, but power. The heart of his
article is that sentence which
declares, "The students and faculty
must begin to understand
power—less in terms of genteel
letters to the Editor than in terms
of decisive steps taken to put power
into the hands of the faculty and
students themselves."

It is not so much the shift in the
locus of power, however, but the
method Mr. Rosen proposes for its
accomplishment that constitutes a
danger to the very foundations of
intellectual freedom. The end is
made to justify the means, and the
author of the "Prospectus" does
not shrink even from advocating
the use of force. On the contrary,
he asserts frankly his commitment
to change "hopefully by discussion,
probably be peaceful
demonstration, perhaps by riot."

Realizing that a successful resort
to force would require strength, Mr.
Rosen proposes that "the first
large-scale demonstration" should
utilize the drawing power of a
popular cause, one that can
"command respect in literate
circles." Thus it is evident that he
embraces the civil rights struggle
not primarily out of belief in its
aims but first and foremost because
it is, as he states, "the best cause
for our purposes"—i.e., a suitable
tool for use in the quest for power.
Here is revealed the basis for that
unhappy alliance of the naive
idealist and the purposeful
revolutionary which has so often
been evident in the disruptions of
the last few years.

Certainly no one would dispute
any individual's right peacefully
and rationally to pursue any
legitimate objective. But one must
instinctively beware of those who
would allow passion and
destruction to prevail over reasoned
discussion, while at the same time
protesting their devotion to a
statesman who once swore "upon
the altar of God trial against
every form of tyranny over the
mind of man."