Groups Urge Fight Against Anti-Red Bill

Representatives of several University organizations decided yesterday that the Sullivan "anti-Red teachers" bill is unconstitutional and a threat to academic freedom, and they urged students to appear at the hearings on the measure which begin Monday morning at the State House.

The meeting, which was called by the Harvard chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild, was held at the Parker House. Such organizations as the Graduate Council, the Young Progressives, and the Christian Fellowship were among the groups attending.

The Sullivan bill reads, "Any educational organization that knowingly employs on its faculty a member of the Communist Party, or one who teaches its doctrines of atheism, shall be ineligible for tax exemption."

Called Unconstitutional

The group felt that the bill would limit freedom of speech, and as such would violate the Constitution, Melville B. Nimmer 2L, president of the local chapter of the Lawyer's Guild stated. The "anti-atheism" clause could prevent the teaching of certain concepts in fields such as anthropology and philosophy, he added.

Other criticisms of the bill hit the "generality" of the term atheism, and claimed that, if the bill becomes law, educational institutions will be unable to hire anyone "left of the NAM."

Monday's hearings before the Education Committee of the General Court will be held in the Gardiner Auditorium at the State House.