Pettigrew to Aid U.S. Commission On Civil Rights

Thomas F. Pettigrew, associate professor of Social Psychology, has been appointed Social Science Consultant to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Pettigrew will be chief advisor for a study begun by the Commission in January in answer to the President's call for "a study of racial isolation. its causes and effects." The study will survey problems in de facto school desegregation throughout the country.

Pettigrew, author of Profile of the Negro American, is particularly concerned with the role of suburbia in desegregation, which he termed "the white noose about the Negro neck."

The Civil Rights Commission, consists primarily of lawyers, including Dean Griswold of the Law School. It is on intellectual lobby that arranges forums and legislative hearings when civil rights have been violated. Recently, however, a number of social scientists have been called in as consultants on studies in social relations.

Pettigrew was invited in January to head the study. He declined, however, because this meant that he would have to leave Harvard. While Pettigrew will have to spend a good part of the summer in Washington working on the study, and currently commutes to the Capital once or twice a week, he will still teach three courses here next year.

He plans to revamp Soc Rel 134, Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, to Include material from the Commission study.