Committee for Academic Freedom Formed; Adopts "Bill of Rights"

Following the recommendation last week of the undergraduate chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, a Harvard committee for Academic Freedom was constituted yesterday at a meeting i Phillips Brooks House.

Fourteen students attended the meeting, five representing organizations which gave their official support to the formation of such a committee, and the rest as delegates from other interested groups.

Resolution Passed

The committee, according to the resolution passed, "recognizes as vital traditions of the University these rights which the University must construe as limited only by the limitations imposed by constitutional rights on citizens of this nation. These rights are to be exercised freely and without fear of reprisal:

1. The right of students and Faculty members and the University as a whole to carry out their educational functions without external restrictions or governmental interference.

2. The right of student sand Faculty members to speak (and teach) freely in the classroom, on the campus, and before the public.

3. The right of students and faculty members to form organizations of their own choice without restrictive supervision.

4. The right of students and Faculty members and their organizations to publish and distribute their views.

5. The right of students and Faculty members to assemble and to hear speakers of their own choice.

6. The right of students and faculty members to criticize the acts and policies of the University and to petition the University.

PBK Invites 19 Groups

Acting for Phi Beta Kappa as first marshal, Paul Olum '40 sent Invitations for the meeting to 19 other groups of which 13 sent representation

tives. Four of these, the Harvard Student Union, the Harvard Pacifists' Association, the John Reed Society, and Avukah, have joined Phi Beta Kappa in tendering their supportto the committee.

The executive committee is composed of Langdon B. Gilkey '40 Ward McL. Hussey '40, Arthur Kinoy '41, Paul Olum '40, and Edward P. Zimmerman '41. Olum stated that a sixth member will be added to the committee if the Teachers' Union endorses the resolution.

The only immediate task of the committee was described as an investigation of the committee on the assigning of halls for speakers, recently constituted three Corporation members and three representatives of the Student Council