U. of Washington's President Has Learned His Lesson, Miller Says

"The president of the University of Washington has been given a thorough lesson in what constitutes the freedom of a university," declared Perry G. E. Miller, professor of American Literature, on his return from a speaking trip to the West Coast. He did not, however, remove his boycott of the university.

Miller yesterday called the vote of the Seattle institution's faculty senate "a guarantee that the faculty will not again be ridden over rough-shed by opinionated administrators." While Miller was in Seattle on April 7, the Washington senate, by a vote of 56 to 40, condemned President Henry Schmitz' ban on talks by J. Robert Oppenheimer '26.

Much Public Discussion

In censuring Schmitz for barring Oppenheimer, the faculty group also stated that the president's future actions would support the "the right of the faculty to think, to teach, to speak, and to write as they see fit." The group also asked outside scholars again to "feel free to join us," saying that "new methods for considering appointments" are under discussion.

Miller, who refused to appear at the University of Washington because of the ban on Oppenheimer, said that the request for outside scholars to drop their boycott was "silly." We will join them when proper conditions exist and theses are up to Schmitz now," he added.

Miller spoke at the Harvard Club of Seattle after receiving an honorary degree on April 5 from Gonzaga University in Spokane. He said that in Seattle there has been "immense public discussion" over Schmitz' veto of a request from the department of Physics to invite Oppenheimer for lectures this summer.

Victor Weisskopf, professor of physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, last night agree with Miller in being "reassured by the sizable faculty a majority condemning the president for his narrow-mindedness." Weisskopf was the first scholar to boycott Washington for barring Oppenheimer.

"Although I have great respect for the high level of scholarship at the University of Washington, I personally would not return there for a visiting engagement before there are more concrete steps to show that the university will uphold academic freedom more consistently than it has in the past," Weisskopf continued.