Panel on academic freedom and McCarthyism

A panel discussion focusing on the issue of academic freedom during the era of McCarthyism, particularly at Reed, is scheduled to take place on campus this spring. Philosophy professor Stanley Moore's expulsion from the Reed faculty in 1954 for refusing to say whether he was a communist will be discussed as a test case of academic freedom within the historical context of the anti-communist fervor of the time. Moore has accepted an invitation to serve on the panel.

Also participating in the panel discussion is Michael Munk '56, who published an article on this subject in the fall 1996 issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly. The article, "Oregon Tests Academic Freedom in (Cold) Wartime: The Reed College Trustees versus Stanley Moore," can be obtained from the Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave, Portland, Oregon 97205.

The event, which is scheduled for Thursday, April 10, from 7 to 9 p.m., is sponsored by the Portland chapter of the alumni association. For more information on this symposium, please call Rachel Hall, alumni relations assistant, at 503/777-7789.

David Eyre, the sole survivor of the 1954 Reed board of trustees, wrote this note on the topic to the school recently:

"As the only surviving member of the 1954 board of trustees, I regret that body's actions in dismissing Stanley Moore. I and others had reservations at the time, and the passing of the years has erased any doubt in my mind: we were wrong in what we did and I apologize, albeit only for myself.

"In retrospect I just wish the board had possessed the fortitude to tell the McCarthyites, Congressman Velde, and others of that ilk: 'Go jump in the lake.'"

David Schiff wins fifth ASCAP award

David Schiff, professor of music, has won a prestigious national award for music composition given annually to a select number of recipients by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). This is the fifth year in which Schiff has been honored with the ASCAP cash award.

The ASCAP awards reflect the society's commitment to encourage writers of serious music. They are granted by an independent panel of distinguished experts and are based upon the unique prestige value of each writer's catalog of original compositions, as well as the recent performance activity of those works in areas not surveyed by ASCAP.

David Schiff's work, which is often lauded in the New York Times and the Oregonian, combines classical, jazz, and rock elements. Since he composed Scenes from Adolescence in 1987, which he describes as his best piece, Schiff has worked to develop "an idiom that is jazz and rock, not just a nod to them." Schiff is also a renowned and prolific author, scholar, and critic whose articles on music history appear frequently in the New York Times.

Schiff's composition Zinman Freylakh, commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra to honor the sixtieth birthday of Maestro David Zinman, premiered July 1996. His latest project was Vashti, a work for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, and piano, which was performed in January at Delray Beach, Florida. Along with his current compositions, Schiff is working on two books: Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (Cambridge Music Handbooks) is in production, and the second edition of The Music of Elliott Carter (Faber and Faber) is currently in progress.

Schiff has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Merrill Foundation, and the Amphion Foundation, as well as two senior Vollum awards from Reed. He won the 1979 ISCM League of Composers National Composers Competition for his Elegy for string quartet and was granted the ASCAP Deems Taylor book award in 1984 for his book The Music of Elliott Carter (Eulenburg Books, 1983).

Schiff, who grew up and was educated in New York City, holds a B.A. in English literature from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in composition from the Juilliard School. He also studied at Cambridge University and the Manhattan School of Music. He joined the Reed faculty in 1980.