Kilson Defends Moonies, Lampoon

To the Editors of the Crimson:

In the past year Harvard College has witnessed new pressures to restrict freedom of speech. Some elements among Jews here seem bent upon keeping Christian militants like the Moonies from distributing their wares; and certain sections of black militants would apply full censorship to the Lampoon's right to decide the form and substance of its humor. Both of these groups have also sought to maneuver the office of Harvard's undergraduate deans behind their anti-freedom pressures--a distressing development indeed.

I trust the Deans will do their duty in this matter: toss the anti-freedom vigilantes out on their ears.

The Moonies aren't quite my cup of tea--in fact, I dislike Rev. Moon, their leader--but they have a right to recruit and propagate. And the Lampoon is surely not high on my reading list but they should be free to shape their own humor without apology to anybody. And anyway the militants among black students ought to take the massive problems of blacks more seriously than to waste sweat and energy over a silly cartoon of black boy shining John Harvard's shoes. I am surprised that their leader, Tony Chase, has lost perspective in these matters.

Martin Kilson

Professor of Government