State House OKs H-442 It Now Goes to Senate

Much revised, State Representative Ralph W. Sullivan's bill to eliminate the "teaching of atheistic communism," in Massachusetts schools and colleges was approved yesterday by a voice vote at a third and final reading in the House of Representatives of the General Court.

The Bill, H-422, now goes to the Senate for ratification.

As in the two previous readings, there was no debate on the proposed measure. The complete lack of vocal opposition to the Sullivan Bill was attributed by some Representatives to fear among the legislators of publicly opposing any measure that squelches communism.

Originally, H-442 proposed to deprive any educational institution in the Commonwealth of its tax exemption privileges if it employed an advocate of "atheistic communism" on its faculty. During hearings before the General Court Education Committee the phrasing of H-442 was changed to direct it toward those who preached the "overthrow of the government by force or violence" rather than proponents of communism.

House Revises Wording

At the final reading of the bill to the House yesterday, the clause "atheistic communism" was re-substituted in H-442 for "overthrow. . . by force."

Most significant among the changes in H-442 is that the schools and colleges themselves will no longer be held responsible for the teachings of the faculty. The sections of the bill which provide for the removal of educational organizations' tax exemptions have been deleted.

Instead, the individual teachers found guilty of advocating communism will be subject to a $300 fine and a one-year jail sentence.

"I changed the bill," Sullivan said last night, "because it was unlikely that it would be passed in its original form. However, the original draft of H-442 served a valuable purpose in that it let trustees of schools and colleges in the Commonwealth know that the Legislature was prepared to take drastic action against communist infiltration into our education institutions."