Word: galbraith
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While I've seen no indication that Professor Galbraith's proposed boycott of professors who do classified research for the government is going to stimulate a new movement, it does raise important questions about the personal activities of faculty members and the ways they may be involved with the government, and about the appropriate selection of target for protest. May I explain why I think his proposal is probably not workable and, if not workable, objectionable...
...first point out that Professor Galbraith did not propose that students boycott those professors whose research is objectionable, nor did he clarify what research would be objectionable. His reference was merely to "classified" research. I'm sure that by almost anyone's standards of wickedness (Galbraith's term) some classified research would be found unobjectionable. People concerned about the dissemination of nuclear technology, about the limitation of weapons, even about ways of ending the war in Vietnam, often require classified information to do their work or, at least, have to be exposed to classified information in doing their work...
...qualify for boycott? It seems strange to exclude them; but again the line would be hard to draw for those who neither wholly support the conduct or the war nor are wholly committed to one drastic alternative. (It is unclear to me on which side of the line Professor Galbraith would be placed...
...standards of wickedness; and, further, I doubt whether there is enough consensus on standards to make it possible to draw an agreed line, even if some people think they know where to draw it. If I'm right about this, any line has to be arbitrary, as Professor Galbraith's line was arbitrary. (If Professor Galbraith interprets his original proposal as applying only to university-administered research, the line is clearer but only because more arbitrary...
...Blizard cited Galbraith's activities as chairman of the A.D.A. She quoted him as saying "The A.D.A. suports no candidates and no party." Mrs. Blizard contended that this position was inconsistent with the responsibilities held by Galbraith as a member of the Council...