RECENTLY A LETTER WAS SENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF AMHERST COLLEGE TO PRESIDENT NIXON

ON THE SUBJECT OF CAMPUS STRIFE AND ITS CAUSES.  THIS LETTER WAS SIGNED BY MOST OF THE


FACULTY AND STUDENTS.  IF ENOUGH LETTERS OF THIS TYPE ARE SENT FROM UNIVERSITIES ARGUND

THE COUNTRY, THEY COULD CONCEIVABLY INFLUENCE THE DECISIONS OF THE GOVEFtNhlENT ON THE

MANY MATTERS WITH WHICH WE ARE CONCERNED.

  WE INTEND TO SEND THE ACCOMPANYING LETTER TO PRESIDENT NIXON, WHICH ALL STUDENTS,

FACULTY AND STAFF ARE URGED TO SIGN.  DR. PITZER HAS PROMISED TO SEND IT TO PRESIDENT

NIXON WHEN A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF SIGNATURES IS OBTAINED.

  AT THE SAME TIME, STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF ARE URGED TO WRITE TO THEIR FRIEND6

IN UNIVERSITIES THROUGHOUT THE NATION SUGGESTING THAT THEY WRITE A SIMILAR LE'M'ER.

  EXTRA COPIES OF THIS LETTER ARE AVAILABLE AT THE OFFICE OF PROFESSOR GORDON 8. KINO,

ROOM 34, MICROWAVE LABORATORY, PHONE 72289.

Gordon Kino

Felix Bloch

Joseph Pettit

Edward Shaw

Joshua Lederberg

Donald Kennedy

Gabriel Almond

David Nivison

Elliott Levinthal

SPONSORING FACULTY ARE:

Marvin Chodorow

Robert Glaser

Moses Abramovitz

Sanford Dornbusch

Wolfgang Panofsky

William Clebsch

Halsey Royden

Leonard Schiff

James Gibbons

David Hamburg

William Baxter

Arthur Kornberg

Ezra Solomon

Robert McAfee Brown

Carl Djerassi

James Gibbs

FORMS FOR SIGNATURE WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE DEPARTMENTS AND AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS

ON CAMPUS.


Dear Mr. President:

This letter is prompted by an earlier one which you received from Amherst College, and
by a speech delivered by Dr. Pitzer, President of Stanford University, to the Board of
Trustees.  At Stanford University , just as at many other institutions, we have recently
had some student disturbances of a disruptive nature.  Although the majority of students
and faculty disapprove of this form of protest,  it is also true that a majority of the
University community identifies with the moral sentiments which led to these outbreaks.

We feel you should realize that such outbreaks are symptoms of the frustrated feelings of
most of us on this campus, and indeed on most university campuses in the United States,
that there are major deficiencies in the country in urgent need of correction.  A prin-
cipal problem, of course,  is our involvement in Viet-Nam.  There do seem to be indications
in the news media at present that your Administration is trying to extricate our country
from this involvement.  If this is indeed the case, we can only add our strong encourage-
ment and support.  However, on the other major problems of our country, there seems to be
no sense of urgency communicated by the Government to the public at large and it appears
that very little is being done by the Executive Branch and the Congress to improve the
situation.  In the absence of such urgency, we feel that the universities of the country
will not remain tranquil.

The following quotation from the Amherst statement eloquently presents our sentiments,
and we subscribe to it completely.

We have also as a college embraced a new sense of urgency of
another kind.  We believe that we must speak out to make clear
that much of the turmoil among young people and among those who
are dedicated to humane and reasoned changes will continue.

It will continue until you and the other political leaders of
our country address more effectively, massively and persistently
the major social and foreign problems of our society.  Part of
this turmoil in universities derives from the distance separat-
ing the American dream from the American reality.

Institutions dedicated to the nurture, husbanding, and growth
of critical intelligence, and to <nquiry.into basic problems
cannot but open people's eyes to the shoddiness of many aspects
of our society.

In yesterday's New York Times it was reported that five
officers in your Cabinet  'seemed to agree that the disorder
was caused by a small minority of students.' Our conviction
is that such a view is seriously in error if it is taken to
mean that no legitimate and important reasons exist for the
anger and sense of impotence felt by many students and faculty.

The pervasive and insistent disquiet on many campuses through-
out the nation indicates that unrest results, not from a con-
spiracy by a few, but from a shared sense that the nation has
no adequate plans for meeting the crises of our society. To
name only one issue of special concern to the students:   since
the Kerner Commission's report, there has been no decisive
response to its recommendations.


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We do not say that all the problems faced by colleges and
universities are a reflection of the malaise of the larger
society.   That is not true.  But we do say that until poli-
tical leadership addresses itself to the major problems of
our society -- the huge expenditure of national resources
for military purposes, the inequities practiced by the pre-
sent draft system, the critical needs of America's 23,000,OOO
poor,  the unequal division of our life on racial issues --
until this happens, the concern and energy of those who know
the need for change will seek outlets for their frustration.

We realize that in writing this letter we have taken the
unusual step of speaking publicly for our community on press-
ing issues of the moment.  We do this out of an urgent concern
to question the widely held view that university unrest is
merely an internal problem,  or at most fomented by an outside
influence.

More, we believe that if political leaders act on this mistaken
assumption,  their actions will serve only to widen the separa-
tions within the university and between the universities and
society at large.

If however, this important element in student unrest is under-
stood, it would be possible for you, Mr. President, to redirect
youthful energy toward those more idealistic, creative and
generous actions which reflect a concern for others. Your
influence can provide that hope which encourages those visions
to which young men so gladly dedicate themselves, and we will
support those efforts.