COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00005 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	\magnification=\magstep2
C00004 00003	\vfill\eject\end
C00005 00004	%nation[s89,jmc]		National Association of Scholars
C00008 00005
C00011 ENDMK
C⊗;
\magnification=\magstep2
\parskip 12pt
\parindent 0pt
\nopagenumbers
\raggedright
\pretolerance=1000

\vglue .5in
\centerline{\bf Stanford Committee for the}
\centerline{\bf National Association of Scholars}
\bigskip

	The National Association of Scholars is described in the
enclosed brochure.  A number of Stanford faculty and other scholars
have joined it recently.  We want to explore the possibility of
forming a Stanford chapter.  Everyone who might be interested is
invited.

	The discussion will include national and local issues, especially recent
threats to freedom of expression.

	There will be a brief introductory talk by Professor Sidney Hook, now
Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, entitled ``The Academic
Scene---Past and Present.''
\bigskip
\bigskip
\centerline {Time: 22 May 1989, 8pm}
\medskip
\centerline {Place: Room 146, Margaret Jacks Hall (Bldg. 460), front of quad}
\medskip
\centerline {Contact: John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, 723-4430}
\medskip
\centerline {Electronic Mail: JMC@SAIL.STANFORD.EDU}
\bye
\vfill\eject\end
%nation[s89,jmc]		National Association of Scholars

	The National Association of Scholars was recently formed
with the aim of furthering disinterested, nonpartisan, superior
scholarship and teaching in American colleges and universities.
Its members and supporters believe that the impartial
investigation and quest for truth in all domains of knowledge is
possible and necessary.  However, it threatened by new intolerant
ideological and political commitments which have gained much
power in many academic institutions.

	Events that worry us include the following.

	1. Courses in which students are required to agree with
the instructor about controversial political and social issues
in order to get a good grade.

	2. Courses without substantial intellectual content.

	3. Subjects in which research is discouraged, e.g. genetics
of intelligence.
	
	4. Ideologically motivated dictation of the content of
courses.  Required courses designed to make students take the
``correct'' attitude.

	5. Proposals to restrict on freedom of expression on campuses
going beyond what the First Amendment allows government to do.

	The Stanford Committee for the National Association of Scholars
invites you to a meeting Monday May 22 at 4:30pm in room xxx.  Recent
cases will be discussed and so will formation of a Stanford Chapter
of the National Association of Scholars.

John McCarthy, Computer Science Department
Sidney Hook
(Robert Floyd)
(Elliott Bloom)
Robert Cohn
John Bunzel

Questions should be addressed to John McCarthy, 3-4430, email:
JMC@SAIL.STANFORD.EDU.

	While they recognize that subjective or power oriented impulses
cannot be eliminated entirely from education and creative expression,
they believe that thought can flourish best in an atmosphere where those
impulses are held in critical check, not courted.  Reasonable
objectivity remains the desirable scholarly human goal, and reasoned
inquiry the primary means to achieve it.

	Likewise, the members recognize the desirability of improving
intergroup relations in society generally, including campus society, but
they hold that those normal and healthy aims represent different
purposes from those of higher education proper, which generically
fosters or tolerates a variety of views including unpopular ones in its
unrestricted search for a fuller, more comprehensive truth.  Freedom
of speech and inquiry, the resistance to any form of thought-control,
however well-intentioned, remains a watchword for advanced institutions
like ours.

	Colleagues who share these concerns and would like to join our
effort are invited to sign below and return the part of the page
under the dotted line.  The group statement with the list of participating
names will appear in the campus press.

-----------
RETURN THIS PORTION TO Professor John McCarthy

			Group Statement

The undersigned faculty members of Stanford University Community support
the aim of furthering disinterested, non-partisan, superior scholarship
and teaching in American colleges and universities.  We subscribe to the
sense and spirit of the statement above.

			SIGNED _____________________________

PLEASE INDICATE:

I am interested in meeting with like-minded colleagues to discuss these
issues, at a date to be announced__________________________