INJUSTICE TO STUDENTS

The action of Columbia University in appointing a committee to inquire into whether any of the faculty were propounding to students doctrines which were submersive of the Constitution of the United States or otherwise unpatriotic is likely to arouse a storm both of approval and abuse. The determination of the trustees to investigate this aspect of university life would be, it was thought, in accord with the measures which have been adopted for mobilization of all the forces at Columbia in the event of war.

All such attempts on the part of the officers of a university to restrict the freedom of speech or opinion on the part either of the members of the faculty or of speakers from the outside is based upon a misconception of the attitude of the students toward those who address them from the lecture platform. That attitude is almost invariably one of respect, mingled with doubt. No audience is quicker to perceive the untruth, the fallacy, or, on the other hand, the worth of an argument. Weight of academic authority counts for little to the university student who is accustomed to listen daily to men famous over the civilized world. The trustees of Columbia, as of other colleges, fail to realize the spirit of criticism in which the undergraduate mind is constantly being trained. Their action is such a matter as that of loyalty or disloyalty to the Government is wholly unnecessary. No more patriotic body exists today than the members of the American colleges and universities. They may be relied upon to treat treason in any form, even on the part of their professors, with the condemnation it deserves. There is no necessity for their being carefully guarded lest they lose that natural love of country and liberty which now inspires their hearty approval and support of the leaders of the nation. Columbia is unjust to her students.