Word: huac
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Last year Berkeley and the University of Michigan turned over to the HUAC membership rosters of anti-Vietnam war groups on their campuses...
...Court was also influenced by "the substantiality of Alabama's interest in obtaining membership lists." Alabama wanted the lists to see if the NAACP had violated its law requiring the registration of foreign corporations. While the Court found this motive insubstantial, it might take a different view of HUAC's desire to uncover subversive activity in student groups. In Bryant v. Zimmerman the Supreme Court upheld a disclosure of Ku Klux Klan membership lists because of the "particular character of the Klan's activities." Furthermore, in the NAACP case the Court believed that publication of membership rolls would "expose members...
...Harvard refuses to comply with a HUAC subpoena, the University may be taken to court and charged with contempt of Congress. In his letter to Gale, Pusey suggested that this was not possible. "The College dean's office," Pusey wrote, "does not require membership lists of political organizations, so, of course, we would not be able to give this information even if requested to do so." This statement, however, is not wholly correct. Harvard keeps a record of the officers of all student organizations, and reserves the right of access to membership lists of political organizations, though this right...
...court decided that Harvard had the ability to comply, then it would have to decide whether or not a HUAC subpoena was a violation of the freedoms of speech and association. Countryman believes that the most important precedent in such a decision would be NAACP v. Alabama, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Alabama had no right to subpoena membership lists from the NAACP. In his majority opinion, Justice Harlan wrote: "Abridgement of such rights [free speech and free association], even though unintended, may inevitably follow from varied forms of government action." This implies that HUAC...
Nevertheless, there are compelling reasons why Harvard should take a stand against a HUAC subpoena. If Harvard proclaims its opposition, many other colleges may follow suit. Since Chairman Pool announced last fall that his committee would investigate civil rights groups, he will probably require more membership lists. If Harvard or any other college goes to court to protect its students, it is possible that it will be judged in contempt of Congress. But the precedents seem favorable to the colleges, and, with the present Supreme Court's sensitivity to infringement of civil liberties, the risks appear relatively slight...