Overseer Nominee Enforces N.Y. Subversive Teacher Law

A candidate for Overseer this year heads the enforcement of New York State's law against subversive teachers. The nominee, Welles V. Moot '08, a Buffalo attorney, leads the committee which administers the controversial Feinberg Law.

Under the law, a list of subversive organizations is being compiled following hearings. Members of such organizations will be banned from jobs in the public school system. The bill was passed by the state legislature as a blow to Communist teachers.

Moot, who also attended the Law School, was one of ten graduates nominated last month by a committee of the Alumni Association. Five men are annually named to the Board of Overseers in spring elections open to degree-holding alumni.

The Overseers are the top governing board of the University, having the final decision on all "major policies" and permanent appointments. In actual practice they seldom reverse a decision presented to them.

Moot holds his enforcement post as one of his duties as a member of the state Board of Regents. The Regents, who supervise the public school system of the entire state, were given the job of compiling the subversive list by the legislature.

Although enacted in March, 1949, the Feinberg Law has not yet been put into effect because of court tests. No list has yet been announced by the Regents although Moot's committee held a public hearing in July of 1949 at which certain groups were invited to show why they should not be declared subversive.

The Communist Party, the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, and the International Workers of the World were among the organizations asked.

The law was declared constitutional last November 30 by the Court of Appeals, the highest tribunal in the state.