Screen Writers, Communist Kept Off UNH Campus

In February, 1948, officials at the University of New Hampshire tightened up the procedure for approving meetings of the student Liberal Club. Since that time, three outside speakers have been prevented from addressing Club gatherings.

Dalton Trumbo and Adrian Scott, screen-writers who were then under indictment for contempt of Congress, were barred from an April 20, 1948 meeting. They were scheduled to talk on civil liberties. A meeting on civil rights, set for January 17, 1949, with Communist Party official Emanuel Blum as speaker, was also not allowed.

Official Statement

A university statement on Trumbo and Scott said that "it is our understanding that their trials (on contempt charges) are scheduled for the near future. It is against university policy to lend itself as a sounding board for attempts at pretrial by defendants whose cases are pending before the courts."

As for the Blum meeting, the administration put it in the category of programs "which took on the character of partisan maneuvering," and lacked "educational value."

Before 1948, the administration said that the "Liberal Club did not consistently follow the expected procedure. ... Notices of meetings (would appear) in the student newspaper before requests for their approval had been made."