Council Will Investigate Navy Oath; New Organization Rules Presented

A five-man Student Council Committee will investigate the relation of the Naval ROTC loyalty, oath to Harvard students and organizations.

President Edward F. Burke '50 appointed the committee last night after executives of the Liberal Union presented a brief to the Council stating the possible effect to the oath on undergraduates who are not affiliated with the Navy in any way.

"Why Penalize Students?"

"We are not against the right of the government to protect itself," said HLU President Donald W. Dowd '51, "but why should an unaffiliated student be penalized for attending an affair sponsored by some 'subversive' organization?"

The connection between the Naval student's loyalty oath and unaffiliated students was found by the HLU leaders in one clause of the oath. The certificate requires NROTC students to describe all relations they have had with certain "subversive" organizations. In this "detailed account" they are also obliged to name all other persons whom they remember were associated with the organizations.

"This clause makes it possible for the oath to effect the entire student body," Dowd stated. "We want to know what use is being made of this information about non-Navy students and how it may affect them later in life."

Organizations referred to by the oath are those classified as subversive by the Attorney General last year. Since Harvard groups never use national names, none of them are listed specifically. "But it is clear that some of them, may be associated with these national 'subversive' groups," the HLU president said.

The Liberal Union brief recommended that the Council find out what relation the oath has to Harvard organizations, and what the scope of its effects will be on non-Navy students who are affiliated, however slightly, with the groups.

The Council last night also decided that the Senior Class Poet, Ivy Orator, Class Orator, Odist, and Chorister will be picked by the graduating permanent class committee, not elected by the entire class as was previously done.