Word: subpoenae
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...mean that the University would necessarily surrender membership lists. His response to Senator McCarthy in the early fifties shows he does not lack the courage to stand up to HUAC. In the present case Pusey was unwilling to commit the University until he saw the actual terms of the subpoena. Pusey was probably trying to avoid unnecessary publicity. Also, he may have been concerned with possible repercussions on Harvard's relations with other government committees and agencies...
Pusey's critics reply that academic freedom is seriously threatened by HUAC's actions and that Harvard has a unique responsibility in the academic world to lead the opposition. The critics also fear that HUAC may wait until the summer to issue the subpoena when students would not be present to protest. This tactic was used successfully against Berkeley, Stanford, and Michigan...
...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...