The anatomy of student revolt
LETTERS
From Arthur N. Waldron, Richard Wiggs, Charles Shippam, Susan Ranson, Julie Gooding, Gilbert Longden, MP, Madeleine Simms. Adrian Fitzgerald, Mrs M. E. Murray, Gordon Evans, M. J. Hall, George Chowdharay-Best, M. Gee, George Scott-Moncriefj, A. J. Fyfe, the Rev J. S. MacArthur.
Sir : Professor Searle's brilliant scenario (7 March) does not include one of the most im- portant reasons college administrators con- fronted by radicals behave like buffaloes being shot.' This is youth's 'credibility gap,' the understandable disbelief of academics con- fronted by self-proclaimed student Stalinists, Leninists, Maoists, etc. Harvard's Dean Watson was roundly excoriated recently for his state- ment, which he was later forced to recant, that the instigators of much unrest were 'a small number of students, many the children of Com- munists.' What he said was, of course, perfectly true, and many administrators (par- ticularly in the us) would do well to face the fact.
My own experience has been that the most dedicated radicals are not alienated rebels from broken homes, but rather the beloved children of radical parents, with whom they have a close, warm relationship. When radical children do rebel, they do so in standard leftist fashion : for example, if the parents are Stalinists, the angry son will probably become a Maoist. In addition, there should be no mystery about what the radicals are thinking. Understandably again, most academics do not read the 'underground press,' nor do they follow the details of the internal machinations of such organisations as SDS. If they did, they might be surprised to find a microcosm of all the doctrinal and tactical struggles of the world communist movement in the last cen- tury. When the radicals say what they are thinking, and what they will do, administrators should listen carefully. They might then avoid the 'technical mistakes' which have resulted in their ignominious rout before a handful of aspiring Lenins.
Arthur N. Waldron Adams House, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass.
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