University of Virginia Library

Yesterday a petition supporting
the proposed moratorium of October
15 was circulated in our
department. The first three paragraphs
of the statement expressed
dissatisfaction with the policies and
questionable morality behind this
country's military involvement in
Vietnam. As a private citizen, I
would gladly have endorsed this
part of the statement, for I share
with those who drafted it the view
that our present commitment in
Vietnam is both futile and deplorable.

The final paragraph, however,
was addressed to me not as a
private citizen but as a member of
the faculty of the University, and
would specifically have enlisted my
support of the plan to turn class
time into time for discussing and
protesting the war. I did not sign
the petition because it seems to me
there is an issue at stake here at
least as important (and as sacred) as
the cause the petition was designed
to support: I refer to the principle
that universities, as institutions
dedicated to the open and dispassionate
pursuit of learning and the
advancement of knowledge, must,
ideally and officially, be kept free
of private or political bias. On
October 15 I think it entirely
proper for a student to have the
option to attend class or not, as his
political and moral beliefs may
direct him. As a member of the
faculty, however, if I had a class
scheduled on that date, I would feel
obliged to meet it for by not
meeting it, it is clear to me that I
would be imposing and in a very
impressive and dramatic way my
personal and political beliefs on my
students.

I do not regard myself, at least
professionally, as a politician or a
crypto-evangelist. I believe that the
meaning and effectiveness of this or
any other university are in jeopardy
when such distinctions are no
longer made.