College NEWSLETTER

Published by the N. Y. College Teachers Union

Vol. V—No. 2

Sy

NEW YORK, November 21, 1941

This is your official notice of the

NEXT MEMBERSHIP MEETING

THURSDAY, NOV. 27. -

Note

is

8:00 P. M.
“THE CITY COLLEGE
23rd Street and
Lexington Avenue

Agenda:

The Union moves to put its program into action on all fronts:
Reports of Educational Policies, Civil Service,

National De-

fense, Legislative and Committees.

Speaker:

the Rising Cost in Living:
AND RISING PRICES.”

ROSE WECHSLER, Trade Union Committee Against

“THE COLLEGE TEACHER

2. The State Federation of Teachers Unions Convention: Report.

3.

Program of the Civil Service Section.

The time for ACTION is here. HELP put this program
into action by attending the MEMBERSHIP MEETING.

Educators, Labor,
Authors Swell
Support for Schappes

Support of Morris U. Schappes,
in the form of contributions to the
appeal fund, and sponsorship of
Defense Committee by prominent
educational, artistic, and labor-
union figures, continued to grow
during the last weeks, and gave
cmen of a successful outcome of
the case of the suspended City Col-
lege teacher who is appealing an
eighteen-month to two-year sen-
tence on a charge of “perjury.”

President Robert K. Speer of the
New York College Teachers Union
and Charles Hendley of the Teach-
ers Union of New York have
mailed. letters to 5,000 college
teachers and 10,000 elementary and
high school teachers, appealing for
funds and enclosing copies of Mr.
Schappes, address to the court-upon
his conviction, and a 12-page
factual folder describing the back-
ground of the case. Printing the
trial record alone will cost over
$2,000.

Professor John Bridge, of the
City College, secretary of the De-
fense Committee, announced that
support for Schappes’ appeal con-
tinues to grow. Joining the list of
sponsors last week were:

W. A. Oldfather, of
past

Professor
the University of Illinois,
(Continued on Page Two)

Unions Urge Greenfield
For Pension Board

After careful consideration of

candidates and programs invotved |

in the pension campaign, Locals 5
and 537 of the New York Teachers
Union have decided to support
Samuel C. Greenfield of Local 5,
whose alternate is Erling Tholfsen,
as candidate for teacher member
of the Retirement Board. The de-
cision to enter Mr. Greenfield re-
sults from the attitudes of the

three other candidates, who repre-|

sent a philosophy of education
inimical to the best interests of the
educational system. Mr. Ollendorf
and Dr. Alonzo QO. Briscoe, who has
the support of F. Z. Lewis, retiring,
are members of the Teachers Alli-
ance; Dr. David J. Swartz has the
backing of Milo F. Macdonald of
the Signpost group, which recently
called for the abolition of the City
Colleges.

Mr. Greenfield and Mr. Tholfsen
both have had a progressive pen-
sion policy in the past. Last year
Mr. Greenfield helped bring about
the reversal of the Retirement
Board’s policy of transferring to
the city the profits from the sale
of high interest bonds. One of his
present important aims is to bring
about the diversification of, invest-
ments to include State and Federal
Bonds. He has expressed his in-
tention of exerting all his efforts
to promote teacher security, which
is inseparable from teacher pen-
sions.

|

| develop educational values

‘Union Forum on ‘Colleges anc

Defense of Democracy’ Dec. 13

How America can preserve and
while
facing a national emergency will
be the theme of the annual CTU
Educational Policies Forum on De-
cember 13 at the Hotel Diplomat.
Under the general heading of “The
College in Defense of Democracy
Today,” a general meeting and
three more specific conferences are
being arranged.

The first panel, on “The rights
and responsibilities of the teacher
as a citizen,” will discuss such
problems as the right of a teacher
to engage in political activities;
his responsibility to the community
for his teaching and outside activi-
ties; the definition of academic
freedom in connection with the se-
lection of teachers.

The second conference, on “Edu-
cational policies in the national
emergency,” will treat of the ex-
tent a teacher ought to curtail pro-
fessional activities to engage in de-
fense work; the need of handling
defense needs without jeopardizing
the permanent contributions of
higher education to society; pos-
sible desirable changes in cur-
riculum; emphasis on the values
of a liberal education.

The third conference will con-
cern itself with the vital problem
of the education of our armed
forces in defense of democracy.
Proposed topics include the sort of
educational and recreational pro-
gram now being carried on in army
camps; the need for non-military

(Continued on Page Two)

Butter AND Guns: Conference
To Halt the Runaway C. of L.

Local 537 is sending two dele-
gates to the New York State Con-
ference of Action to stop inflation
and the rising cost of living. The
Conference will be held under the
auspices of the Trade Union Com-
mittee on the Rising Cost of Liv-
ing. The Conference is scheduled
for December 6 at the Hotel Roose-
velt and will involve trade unions,
churches, civic, consumer and fra-
ternal groups in the planning of
a practical program for building
civilian morale by stopping the
present rise in prices.

December 5

OpenMeeting

on the

Proposed Changes

in the

Democray By-Law

See es.Page iz

Dismissal of Foner,’
Bernstein Condemned

The Board of Higher Educatio
was urged last Monday night 1
uphold America’s democratic trad
tions of freedom ot speech, pres
and assembly by retaining on th
faculty of City College Dr. Sau
Bernstein and Dr. Philip Fone
whose dismissal as “alleged Con
munists” was recommended b
Board Trial Committees.

S. J. Woolf, Board member an
member of the Trial Committ
which heard charges against D:
Foner, issued a minority report i
which he said that “Delving int
what men think and believe ow
side their classrooms is a wedg
which opens up frightening vista
It becomes a direct threat to pe
sonal liberty irrespective of th
supposed purpose for which it |
undertaken.” Unfortunately, M:
Woolf did not draw the only po
sible conclusion from his ow
analysis and concurred in th
majority report.

Excerpts from reviews of “Bus
ness and Slavery: The New Yor
Merchants and the Irrepressib!
Conflict,” by Dr. Foner, publishe
in March 1941 by the Universit
of North Carolina Press, attest t
his brilliant scholarship. The Jul
20th issue of the Chattanoog
Times, one of numerous papel
lauding the book, stated in part
“This is one of the most importa

(Continued on Page Two)

Read the Union’s Program

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