Editor's Notes

In the Sept 30, 1968, issue of Newsweek magazine, the editors featured a six page article concerning the "Revolution on Campus." If we were to trust the title, we might expect an article dealing with campus activists, radicals, and revolution.

Yet nowhere in the article did the authors bother to define their subject, to define "revolution." Further, the authors failed to note any student opposition to the New Left.

While it is true that the collectivists have, for the most part, been parading in an intellectual vacuum, it is also true that a growing number of students are becoming aware of the New Left's philosophical bankruptcy. There exists a growing anti-SDS sentiment among students, particularly on campuses where SDS has engaged in violent tactics. And at a number of schools, the collectivists face concerted intellectual opposition. Yet Newsweek's reporters failed to mention these facts.

They failed to mention the Committee to Defend Individual Rights (CDIR) at the University of Wisconsin, one of the more active student groups in the country. At Columbia, they failed to perceive the activities of the Committee Against Student Terrorism (CAST), a revolution in its own right. At Harvard, Radcliff, MIT, and the University of Virginia, the story was the same. The presence of any student opposition to the New Left was ignored. In an article purporting to present an accurate picture of campus "activism" (without specifying Left or Right), the lack of objectivity is disappointing, to say the least. Newsweek, the newsmagazine that "separates fact from opinion," apparently does so by ignoring those facts which do not conform to its opinions.

Newsweek, clearly, is "leaving the fact-finding to us." Because we believe "that an objective presentation of the facts constitutes the major part of any newsmagazine's sales appeal, we cheerfully accept this "challenge by default." It could only be to our advantage.

REASON, therefore, will soon publish an article dealing with the growing number of campus organizations opposing the New Left. Because the philosophy of Objectivism presents the only consistent opposition to the underlying premises of the New Left, it shall be those organizations which consider themselves to be in accord with Objectivism which we will generally concentrate upon.

Readers having information about such groups are urged to write the editor, sending the following information:

Name and address of the organization; affiliates, if any; length of existence; number of members; brief recap of past, present, and planned activities; and a summary of the political climate of the campus involved. Those participating in this survey will receive a free copy of the issue in which the article is presented.

Ayn Rand will speak to the Ford Hall Forum at Jordan Hall (30 Gainsboro, Boston, Mass) on Dec 8th at 8 pm. Tickets and information are available by writing Ford Hall Forum at 80 Boylston St. Boston, Mass 02116 or calling HA6 0725. Miss Rand's topic: "Of Living Death; A Critique of the Pope's Encyclical on Birth Control.

NEXT MONTH: Massachusetts' repressive birth control laws will be tested Dec 2 of this year. Our next issue, then, will deal with this subject. Highpoints of the article include an explanation of the laws involved, the results of a press conference with the law's challenger, Bill Baird, and an exposition of our editorial position in relation to birth control in general, and the laws in specific. And much more.

Students wishing to meet and exchange thoughts with other students of Objectivism are advised of the existence of two established campus groups in Boston.

MIT: Radicals for Capitalism Box 555 3 Ames St Cambridge Mass 02139 telephone: [phone] (evenings) Ask for Adam Reed.

Harvard-Radcliffe: c/o of Dean Ahmad Dunster House J 48 Harvard University Cambridge Mass 02138 Tel: [phone]. Miss Sanders.

Boston University will have a similar organization in the immediate future. For information write care of this magazine or call Robert Tancredi at 625 8853, evenings.

On January first, REASON will convert to a new subscription policy. The terms will change from 8 issues for $1 to 9 issues for $2. Subscriptions received until that date will be honored at the present rate. Subscriptions currently in force will not be affected by this change. Further details in the December issue.