AVC to Fight 'Stool Pigeon' Clause in National Campaign

The College AVC chapter will use the power of its national affiliate, the American Veterans Committee, to fight for the elimination of the "stool pigeon clause" from the loyalty oath which all Navy men, including college Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps members, are required to fill out.

After a meeting of the executive board last night, Roy F. Gootenberg '49 IPA, president of the College AVC, announced that copies of the protest will be sent to National AVC Chairman Michael Straight in Washington and to all AVC members in Congress.

Congressmen who will receive the protest, along with explanatory material, are Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. '37, Richard Bolling, Peter Rodino, and James Javits. AVC Senators Henry Cabot Lodge '24 and Paul Douglas will also get the message.

The AVC complaint calls the "stool pigeon clause" a "menace to American freedom" and a "special threat to academic freedom." It also says the clause is "totally ineffective as a test of loyalty."

The clause requires that Navy men name every one they know whom they have seen at functions of groups listed as subversives by the Justice Department.