Vote of Princeton Faculty Could Lead To End of University Ties With IDA

The Princeton faculty has approved a report that could lead to an end to the University's ties with the Institute of Defense Analyses.

IDA is a government-sponsored "think-tank" involved in war research work. Its Princeton branch is mainly involved with cryptography.

The report, approved Monday, recommends that Princeton and the other 11 universities in the IDA system take action to change IDA's structure to "one in which universities are not responsible for its management and activities.

The main faculty complaint about IDA is that Princeton is "lending its good name" to an organization over which it has very little control. The IDA building is on property rented from Princeton, adjacent to the Engineering Quadrangle. University officials, however, deny that it is on "University property."

Robert F. Goheen, President of the University, is a member of IDA's 22-man board of trustees, and many Princeton faculty members work on IDA projects.

The wording of the report is ambiguous. Expulsion of IDA is one alternative, although a more likely step will probably be a severing of relationships--IDA would buy its building and Goheen would leave the board.

The report now goes to Princeton's Board of Trustees, which will make the final decision on IDA's fate.

The controversy over IDA at Princeton began in October when two students, members of SDS, revealed the university's ties with the war research organization. These discoveries were published in The Daily Princetonian.

Also in October, a large group of students staged a sit-in at the IDA building. Several were arrested. The sit-in led to the formation of the faculty committee that reported Monday.