The Open Gate

The Fifth Amendment professors will be the chief sufferers from the AAU's illogic. University "tribunals," well within the policy of the report, can violate the tenure of any one of them, merely because he cannot prove he is not a Communist. Thus, the AAU's ban on Communists opens the gates to widespread firing of tenured teachers who invoke the Amendment, by any AAU university which feels uncomfortable under public pressure. This loophole, then, is the report's great weakness.

We do not oppose automatic dismissal of Communists because we have any sympathy for Communists or their police state ideas. And since no Communist deserves permanent tenure in the future, the entire issue should fade away with the current batch of tenured professors. The risks involved in keeping a known and non-disciplined Communist are much smaller than those implicit in breaking the tenure code because of a lawful though stupid political affiliation. Because breaking tenure rules in even one unjustified instance is like drilling a hole in a dike, a Communist should have as much of a chance as anyone else to show his competence to his fellow teachers.