THE FACULTY
SUSPENSIONS
See Page 4
Latest Deadline in the State
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PARTLY CLOUDY
VOL. LXIV, No. 154 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, TUESDAY, MAY 11, 1954
'' Witnesses iFifthAmendment in
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Five Refuse Reply
To Clardy Queries
Sharpe Invokes 7 Amendments
In First Day Lansing Session
By DAVE BAAD
Special To The Dailyj
Three University faculty members and two University graduate
students yesterday refused to answer questions of the House Sub-
Committee on Un-American Activities pertaining to alleged Com-
munist activities.
Each of the five made free use of his Constitutional rights in
denying answers to the Committee headed by Rep. Kit Clardy (R-
Mich.) and including Rep. Gordon Scherer (R-Ohio) and Rep. Mor-
gan M. Moulder (D-Mo.)
*** *
THE FIVE APPEARING yesterday were:
Prof. Mark Nickerson, of the pharmacology department who
has been with the University since September, 1951;
H. Chandler Davis, of the mathematics department here
since 1950;
Prof. Clement L. Markert of the zoology department, who has
been at the University since 1950;
Ed Shaffer, Grad., a student here since 1945 and presently
working for his PhD. in economics;
Myron E. Sharpe, Grad., also working for a PhD. in economics.
Prof Nathaniel Coburn, of the mathematics department was
scheduled to appear yesterday but was unable to attend due to
illness.
REP. CLARDY said following the hearings yesterday that he is
considering recommending to the House committee that three of'
the men, Davis, Shaffer and Sharpe, be cited for contempt of Con-
gress as a result of their performance before the sub-committee.
However, even if the House Un-American Activities Com-
mittee decides to recommend contempt citations the contempt
becomes official only if it passes the whole House.
Responding to questions by Rep. Moulder, all three faculty
members testified that they do not believe in the overthrow of the
government by force or violence.
Davis, the only witness to appear without counsel, utilized only
the First Amendment during his
No Action Taken
On Two Students
Hatcher Suspends Faculty Members
For Not Cooperating With Clardy
By JIM DYGERT
University President Harlan H. Hatcher ordered late yesterday
the immediate suspension of the three faculty members who appeared
before the House un-American activities subcommittee yesterday in
Lansing.
No statement was issued in regard to University action concern-
ing the two graduate students, Ed Shaffer and Myron Sharpe, who
also appeared before the committee.
THE THREE faculty men, Prof. Mark Nickerson of the pharma-
cology department, Prof. Clement L. Markert of the zoology depart-
ment, and H. Chandler Davis, an instructor in the mathematics de-
partment, were notified of their
I
--Daily-All Hearings Pictures by Chuck Kelsey
COMMITTEE-Council Frank Tavenner, Rep. Gordon Scherer (R- Ohio), Rep. Kit Clardy (R-Mich.) and Rep. Morgan Moulder
(D-Mo.) question University witness before Un-American Activities Committee hearings.
Suspens on Surprises Witnesses
4
I
testimony.
According to Rep. Clardy only
the Fifth Amendment would be
recognized as valid grounds for
refusal to answer questions. How-
ever, Rep. Moulder disagreed with
uthe Chairman and told Davis he
could use any legal rights he
thought he had.
REP. SCHERER called Shaf-
fer in contempt of Congress when
he refused to answer an inquiry
as to his employment since 1946
on the basis of the Fifth Amend-
ment.
Sharpe is being considered
for contempt because of what
Rep. Clardy termed "his con-
tinual attempts to lecture the
committee about its ulterior mo-
tives and tactics in conducting
the investigation." On several
occasions Sharpe called the
committee's methods 'Fascistic'
and similar to those used in
'Nazi Germany.',
The spectators were quiet
throughout the hearings and there
was no hint of the rumored dem-
onstrations.
* * *
PROF. NICKERSON utilized
the Fifth Amendment 40 times as
the sub-committee tried to estab-
lish his alleged connection with
the Communist Party.
He refused to answer inquiries
as to his alleged association
with a Baltimore group called
the Bookshop Association dur-
ing his attendance at Johns
Hopkins University.
According to sub-committee
counsel Frank S. Tavender's data,
Prof. Nickerson was alleged to be
president of tnis aorganizatione
while he lived in Baltimore. Rep.
Clardy later brought out that the
Bookshop Association allegedly
distributed Communist literature.
Later in answer to a question by
Rep. Moulder, Prof. Nickerson as-
serted he had never engaged in
espionage, and that at no time
had he given secret information
to any foreign country.
** *
PROF. NICKERSON said dur-
ing testimony that he had con-
ferred privately with chairman of
the nharmacoloav denartment.
Ike Reviews
Policy; Reds'- '
Balk in Geneva
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON-President Eis-
enhower yesterday discussed the
Indochina crisis for nearly an
hour with Secretary of State John'
Foster Dulles and top defense
leaders amid a surge of activity
suggesting an urgent review of
U. S. policy in Europe and the
Far East.
ASKED whether the afternoon
session dealt with Indochina,
Dulles told newsmen: "That would
be a pretty good guess."
Meanwhile in Geneva the
Communists laid their own ar-
mistice plan for Indochina be-
fore the Geneva conference yes-
terday, and after two sessions,
the conference appeared dead-
locked.
Pham Van Dong, vice premier
of the Vietminh regime, rejected
outright the armistice plan pro-
posed by French Foreign Minister
George Bidault on Saturday.
The French ,in turn, rejected
the eight-point Vietminh propos-
al. A French spokesman said it
appeared designed not to stop
the war but to "set the stage for
Vietminh to swallow all of Indo-
china." France and Vietminh
agreed only on evacuating Dien
Bien Phu's wounded.
By ALICE B. SILVER
Associate Editorial Director
The three faculty members whoI
were suspended after their ap-
pearance before the Clardy com-
mittee in Lansing yesterday ex-
pressed surprise last night at
President Harlan Hatcher's action.
The three men are Prof. Mark
Nickerson of the pharmacology
department, Prof. Clement Mark-'
ert of the zoology department and
Chandler Davis of the mathemat-
ics department.
* * ,
THE THREE faculty members
explained their surprise on the ba-
sis that their teaching qualifica-
tions were not called into consid-
eration by the suspension state-
ment.
They agreed that the "suspen-
sion in absence of any question-j
ing of our teaching competency
is unfair to our students."
Davis is teaching three under-
graduate sections in mathematics,
Druids Strike
Deep in Night
DRUIDS, sons of magic
Foretellers of the future
Judges-very knowing, wise-
The fires in the stonehenge
Are set alight
With flames to heaven raised;
Look upoii thy awends
Called from out thy mighty court
The uninformed who would see
thy light
Hence to thy oakgrove--
There to test their worthiness
With eyes to heaven raised
Invoke a blessing from the skies--
Perpetuate thy heroic deeds
Keep ever bright thy burning
torch-
The glory and wisdom of knights
of old,
Stalwart DRUIDS, true and bold.
Prof. Nickerson teaches one class
a week at the hospital to over
two hundred students, and Prof.
Markert is teaching two courses
in advanced embryology. He said
it will be extremely difficult for
anyone else to take over his classes
at this time.
The three men also pointed to
what they consider a contradiction
in the President's statement. In
the concluding sentence of that
statement the President said, ". .
it is the University's policy that
members of its family be given
See Alan Barth editorial, Page 4
the protection to which they are
entitled under our laws and tra-
ditions."
* * *
HOWEVER, the three explained,
the President's letter to them said
their refusal to answer questions
of the committee "raises serious
question as to your relationship
to the University and to your col-
leagues and places upon you Ite
duty to go forward to explain your
actions."
The three men raised the ques-
tion of why "the exercise of
rights which the President ap-
parently concedes should place
our University status in ques-
tion."
If the President recommends
dismissal, the three plan to request
hearings before the special com-
mittee of the Faculty Senate set
up for this purpose.
"We intend to speak honestly
and frankly," Prof. Markert said,
'on matters relevant to our com-
petance as scientists and as mem-
bers of the University faculty."
* * *
THEY also said that if the hear-
ings before the Faculty Senate
committee include questions on
their relationship to students out-
side the classroom, they would
recognize this as a pertinent point
of discussion.
Davis, who invoked only the
First Amendment before the
Committee, on the grounds that
the Committee's questions con-
stituted a violation of his free-
dom of speech, press and assem-
bly, that he was aware of the
danger of a contempt citation.
He added, 'I do not believe I was
in fact guilty of contempt."
He maintained that the com-
mittee "spent quite a bit of time
on my political opinions. These
questions were clearly violations of
the First Amendment."
Prof. Markert commented that
Rep. Clardy's statement that only
those "who have something to
hide" use the Fifth Amendment is
clearly in error. "The use of the
Fifth Amendment does not neces-
sarily imply guilt," he said.
None would at present give any
Stevens Blasts
At McCarthy
WASHINGTON-(I)-Secretary
of the Army Stevens, flared up
at Sen. McCarthy (R-Wis.), de-
clared yesterday there are "dog-
gone few" Communists in the
Army and he said he's just as de-
termined as McCarthy to keep
every Red out.
McCarthy, in turn, accused
Stevens of having a "selective
memory" and of being "naively
and unintelligently anti-Commu-
nist."
The Wisconsin Senator said
there are men with Communist
connections "at this very moment"
in one highly sensitive branch of
the Army. That subject was drop-!
ped for the moment, however,
when the Army denied any know-
ledge of the division McCarthy
mentioned.
additional information to the press
regarding the content of their tes-
timony before the Committee.
The three explained that they
testified that they do not believe
in the violent overthrow of the
government so as "to avoid any
confusion between this question
and those concerning normal polit-
ical activities." However, they sus-
pected the Committee might be
exceeding its powers also in ask-
ing this question.
Out-of-State
Doctors Can
Practice Here
A new act permitting doctors in
other states to qualify for practice
in Michigan has been recently
passed by the State Legislature.
Allowing acceptance of "sub-
stantially equal" examinations ta-
ken in other states, the law "has
cleared the air," according to Dr.
Donald A. Kerr of Ann Arbor,
president of the State Basic Sci-
ence Board. "Until it was enacted,"
he said, "
Basic science tests taken in Ar-
kansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Ne-
braska, Rhode Island, Sbuth Da-
kota, Tennessee and Texas are on
.the approved list. Florida, Nevada,
New Mexico, Alaska and the Dis-
trict of Columbia are now being
considered for approval.
Basic science tests are a prere-
quisite for other examinations
which permit one to practice medi-
cine, chiropractic and osteopathy.
Dr. Wayne L. Whitaker, Assist-
ant Dean of the School of Medi-
cine, pointed out that the new law
will not affect medical students;
it will only affect the licensing of
doctors to practice in Michigan.
suspension in letters from Presi-
dent Hatcher.
The suspension was made pub-
lic in an official statement by
President Hatcher. The state-
ment reads as follows:
"In view of the testimony be-
fore the HouseSub-committee on
Un-American Activities in Lan-
sing today by Messrs. Mark Nick-
erson, Associate Professor, Clem-
ent L. Markert, Assistant Profes-
sor, and H. Chandler Davis, In-
structor, I am, by virtue of the au-
thority delegated to me, ordering
their immediate suspension, pend-
ing a thorough investigation by
the University. Up to this point
the House Committee has not sup-
plied the University with any in-
formation taken from its files.
"Suspension is ordered without
prejudice to the final decision in
their cases. If further investiga-
tion seems to warrant dismissal
procedures, any person affected
has the right to be heard by a
special committee of the Univer-
sity Senate (faculty) before final
action is taken by the Regents of
the University.
"The University has urged all'
persons called before duly consti-
tuted Congressional committees to
respond frankly to reasonable
questions. At the same time it is
the University's policy that all
members of its family be given
the protection to which they are
entitled under our laws and tra-
ditions."
ACCORDING to Arthur L. Bran-
don, Director of University Rela-
tions, the suspensions mean that
"they will not be permitted to car-
ry on their work at the Univer-
sity." He emphasized, however,
that the suspensions were "with-
out loss of pay."
The investigations, said Bran-
don, will be initiated by Presi-
dent Hatcher, who will ask the
deans of the colleges concerned
to conduct the investigations.
The executive committees of the
colleges will then take over the
investigations under the direc-
tion of the deans.
The purpose and intent of the
investigations, according to Bran-
don, is to "ascertain the facts from
all parties concerned." This will
probably include conversing with
the faculty men who have been
suspended, he added.
When the investigations have
been completed (no time limit has
been set), recommendations will
be made to President Hatcher upon
the consideration of which he will
decide either to initiate dismissal
action or reinstate the faculty men.
IF DISMISSAL action is taken,
those concerned will have either
five or 20 days to request a hear-
ing, depending on whether the
cases are considered in the "emer-
gency" category. Hearings would
be conducted by the five-man Sub-
committee on Intellectual Free-
dom and Integrity, set up by the
University Senate Advisory -Com-
mi++.. a a a'hermrn1np wyPof
Of Witnesses
Made Public
The following statements were
issued to the press by the three
faculty members who appeared
before the House Un-American
Activities sub-committee yesterday
following their testimony before
that group.
H. Chandler Davis
I exchange political ideas freely
with people who judge them on
their merits. I do not discuss poli-
tics with a sword over my head;
the First Amendment is intended
to keep coercion out of politics.
If I announced my opinions pub-
licly now, either in the hearing
room or outside, they would not be
listened to for their content, but
in terms of their acceptability or
unacceptability by the Commit-
tee's standards. I willnot discuss
my political ideas while they are
the subject of scandal and threat.
Clement L. 1arkert
In a democratic society no one
is answerable for his political be-
liefs or affiliations to any agency
of government. This fundamental
tenet of democracy was wisely. in-
corporated in our Constitution as
the first amendment, which for-
bids Congress to inquire into or
interfere with political beliefs or
associations.
The House Committee on Un-
American .Activities has unfor-
tunately transgressed the bounds
of constitutional authority in
asking questions related to po-
litical belief and association. I
cannot in good conscience co-
operate in such violations of the
constitution and have therefore
refused to. answer all questions
pertaining to my political beliefs
or associations or the lack of
them.
Since the committee denied me
the right to invoke the guarantees
of the first amendment in refusing
to answer questions, I have been
obliged to rely upon the constitu-
tional protection of the fifth
amendment which prevents Con-
gressional committees from com-
pelling any person to be a witness
against himself.
No amount of misrepresentation
or false inference of guilt can ob-
scure the fact that the fifth
amendment was designed to pro-
tect individuals from unjust pro-
secutions. I have therefore in-
voked the fifth amendment in
order to protect myself from the
possibility of unjustified prosecu-
tion.
See STATEMENTS, Wage 6
Russian Officer
Statements
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FACULTY, STUDENT WITNESSES:
Five Who Testified Before Clardy Committee
_> .
JIM
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