Publisher's Notes

• REASON MAKES THE MEDIA: The 24 September issue of the LOS ANGELES TIMES featured an article reprinted from REASON's special issue of September 1972. The article, "Crimes—but No Victims" by Prof. Gilbert Geis, appeared in the Sunday "Opinion" section of the TIMES. Copies of the 48-page September issue, devoted to the subject of "Libertarian Politics and Issues," are still available at the cover price of $1.25.

• ZEIGLER FOR CONSUMERS UNION: Consumers Union, publisher of CONSUMER REPORTS, is considering nominations for three-year terms on its Board of Directors. Especially in view of the organization's recent anti-statist positions (on prescription drug price advertising, and its suits against oil and steel import quotas), it would be desirable to have a libertarian on CU's Board. John Zeigler, subject of a recent REASON interview, has been suggested by several people as a logical candidate. Letters in support of Zeigler's nomination should be sent to Secretary, Consumers Union, Mount Vernon, NY 10550. Deadline is 8 December.

• NEW COLUMNIST: This month REASON welcomes to its pages John J. Pierce, with his bimonthly column "Science Fiction in Perspective." Pierce, at age 31, has been a writer and science fiction fan for some 20 years. His writing began with amateur newspapers in his early school days, and continued with prep school and college newspapers. He currently works as a reporter for the Dover (NJ) DAILY ADVANCE.

John got turned on to science fiction at age nine, in 1950, upon seeing DESTINATION MOON, and his science fiction collection now numbers some 1800 paperbacks and numerous hardcover volumes. He has been active in science fiction "fandom" since 1966, defending romantic science fiction against the onslaught of the "New Wave." In this capacity, he founded and publishes RENAISSANCE, a quarterly "fanzine." He became interested in libertarianism "because of being too idiosyncratic to feel comfortable in any regimented or paternalistic society."

The logo for "Science Fiction in Perspective" was done for REASON by the noted science fiction artist George Barr.

• NEW FEATURE: REASON this month inaugurates another new regular feature—Rudebarbs," a libertarian cartoon. Cartoonist Randall K. Hylkema, newest member of the REASON staff, has his bachelor's degree from Pomona College and an M.S. from U.S.C., both in mathematics. Mr. Hylkema works on the Mariner Mars project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

• A MODEST PROPOSAL (A Proposal for a Libertarian Faculty Registry): Going to college is galling for most students, what with the bureaucracy, the red tape, the "don't fold, spindle or mutilate" mentality; it can be a hellish nightmare for the libertarian student. Consider the rubbish that passes for learning in most classrooms. In economics, students are told that Keynes was the greatest economist in the 20th century, and that central planning must be instituted universally because the free market just cannot function in this complex society. In history we are regaled with tales of the moral greatness of welfare-warfare America; we learn that the United States has never fought on the wrong side of any war. In philosophy we learn that existence cannot be proven but that it can be proven that morality consists of being our brothers' keepers.

The libertarian is all too often faced with a choice of speaking out against this nonsense—and failing out—or keeping quiet in the face of continuous and deathly boredom and frustration. Under this constant barrage, many of our best students have either quit school or have given up their beliefs in the efficacy of libertarianism.

It would be nice to report that we have discovered an antidote for this dilemma. This is unfortunately not the case. We will have to struggle with this problem for a long time to come. However, as the libertarian movement grows and prospers, and as libertarian ideas come to appear slightly less outlandish to the academic community, partial solutions to this problem will begin to surface. And they will surface more quickly and more completely if we give them a little push. It is in the spirit of giving things a little push, then, that we offer the following.

We propose the construction of a listing of libertarian faculty members in colleges and universities all across this fair land of ours. And we will add to it every year, as the libertarian academic movement grows.

The fruits of this program will be several. Students fortunate enough to be located at a school with one or more libertarian faculty members will be able to enroll in several courses knowing that there will not be an ideological antipathy between them and their instructor. In all too many cases, libertarian students have gone to schools for four years without even knowing that there were libertarian faculty members on the same campus. This list will not only benefit students who happen to be on the same campus as libertarian scholars, however. High school and transfer students will be able to take the list into account when they choose schools. And it is often possible to remain at school A while taking credit courses at school B. In New York City, for instance, several students have been taking credit courses from Dr. Murray N. Rothbard both from within his school (Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute) and from other schools. But attendance has been based mainly on word of mouth. It is time, it is long past time, that we formalize the procedure a bit.

The Registry will include the name, department and university of as many libertarian scholars as we can amass. It will be published twice yearly in OUTLOOK and REASON, who are cooperating in this venture, before the beginning of each school term. We earnestly invite our readers to add more information to make the Registry a living, breathing, growing thing.