• Spectator's notebook
Sir: It is true, as you say (26 September), that I am a member of the committee which pro- posed Mr Dutschke for admission as a research student to Cambridge. It is also true that through absence or inattention, I knew nothing of the proposal until the Home Secretary had decided that Mr Dutschke should leave the country.
I would probably have acquiesced in the pro- posal to admit Mr Dutschke to Cambridge, assuming the normal assurances about his academic capability, but that has nothing to do with the matter now under discussion, which is the Home Secretary's reasons for deciding that Mr Dutschke may no longer reside.
About these it is difficult to form an opinion. One opinion I have formed is that it need not be assumed that the Home Secretary is wrong merely because his decision about residence conflicts with a university decision about a different question, ie, to admit Mr Dutschke as a research student on the assumption that his residence permit is renewed.
Maurice Cowling
Peterhouse, Cambridge
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