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Today is Friday, May 25, 2012 at 01:36 AM.



From left: Rick Harmon, Michael Munk, George Joseph, and Carl Stevens.
George Joseph '51 provoked the lion's share of laughter from the audience during the evening, noting that he was most likely invited to participate in the program "to prevent its becoming a thorough love-in for Stanley Moore." Joseph, who was a trustee of the college from 1972 to 1980, remembered Professor Moore as "his first contact with real, intelligent arrogance," in contrast to the more commonly observed "stupid arrogance." He went on to emphasize his love for the college as the key ingredient in his response to the "Moore affair" or any other aspect of Reed's history, and he rejected Munk's notion that Reed College was in any way in need of "rehabilitation." He maintained that the trustees in 1954 were not "evil and immoral" but merely wrong, according to current standards. They were, in their role as trustees, "truly solicitous" of the college's welfare, and in firing Moore they reacted to the financial crisis and threat of closure that the negative publicity from the HUAC hearings was creating. "Reed was on the rocks in those days," Joseph insisted.

Carl Stevens focused on the larger picture of relations--historical, current, and future--between "the academy" and "society" in the United States. That larger picture, he argued, provides a useful context for understanding what went wrong at Reed in 1954. In trying to explain why dozens of political firings occurred in American higher education in the 1950s, Stevens cited a breakdown in communication between the academy and society--a failure to maintain the understanding that must govern relations between the two. In particular, he felt the academy had not done its homework in persuading the public that the institutions of academic freedom and tenure are socially valuable. Stevens warned, furthermore, that some current trends in relations between the academy and society threaten once again to test our social commitment to academic freedom and tenure.

With the presentations finished, the panel took questions from the audience. At this stage the audience was again treated to the voice of Stanley Moore, who had been listening to the proceedings via telephone. He joined the in-person panelists in responding to questions on a range of subjects from hypothetical academic freedom for Nazis to the actions of Portland attorneys during the McCarthy era.

And what about that concluding demonstration? After the Reed alumni association bestowed "honorary alumnus" status upon Stanley Moore and the formal program concluded, the audience was invited to remain to visit with panelists and with one another. Bob Richter '52 (whom Munk had earlier referred to as "the person most responsible for rehabilitating Reed College") stepped to the microphone. Holding the attention of a large part of the audience, Richter read portions of letters written for the occasion, including one from poet Gary Snyder '51. Richter paid special tribute to Stanley Moore for his courage in "taking the higher ground" in 1954 and declared that the evening's event finally marked "the end of the Cold War at Reed College."

The Reed College bookstore will gladly mail a video tape or audio cassette of the symposium. Videos are $15; cassettes are $7. Please add $2.50 for shipping and handling. Customers can order by phone by calling 503/777-7754, or fax requests to 503/777-7768. Or, best of all, send email to bookstore@reed.edu.