WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1969
Three University Profs Consult with IDA
(Continued from page one )
publicity. “Although IDA very much
values the contribution made by the
universities through the years.” King told
me, “the fact is that its need of direct
university backing and advice has lessen
ed somewhat over the years as it has
become established as an organizaton
which can stand on its own.”
Indeed. IDA has continued its
recruitment of scientists from the
academic _ community, as institutional
membership in IDA had never been a
prerequisite for employment as a consul
tant.
Muzzled Protests
The change in corporate structure
did, however, virtually muzzle student
protests. It tainted any further attacks on
IDA as an intrusion on academic
freedom, since the universities were of
ficially out of the game and only the pro
fessors, who may consult or research tor
whomever they please, remained. At Col
umbia, Rudd was caught mouthing the
rather hypocritical notion that “academic
freedom docs not include the freedom to
perform secret research for the Pentagon
in 1968.”
Implicit in the SDS rhetoric, of
course, is an almost rcligous belief in
American militarism, and a simultaneous
committment to cut off its research base,
even if that means dictating the rights of
some professors. “It’s not a question of
doing the stuff (military research) here,”
SDS correspondent Buckley said last year
at University Park. “Penn State is in the
goddamn body. It’s an insidious branch o£
research for the Department of Defense.
What they’re doing is faking academic
skills to the criminal business of govern
ment. It’s a question ot making the
University complicit with the war
machine.”
Wells H. Kcddie, an assistant pro
fessor of labor studies and the facultv ad
viser to SDS at Penn State, is a ruggedly
handsome man with the sharply detined
features of an outdoors.man. He agrees
with Buckley, although his voice remains
calm and his face relaxed when discuss
ing the subject.
“This is one more way to harness the
needs of the military to the universities,’'
Kcddie said of IDA. “It is an
abomination. It js immoral to research
how to kill people, how* to put down the
national ambitions of people.”
Most of those who would disengage
the academic institutions from the
Department of Dclense arc equally warv
of dictating the rights of professor* who
individually choose to do defense
research or consultation on their own
time.
“There are times. . .when the best
brains in some particular specialty are to
be found on a university campus.”
Walker wrote in his letter to USG. “and
the individual involved is willing, or even
eager, to help his government. In such
cases, his decision is. and I believe should
be. an individual matter. As long as the
work he performs docs not intcrlere with
his teaching or other academic duties, he
should, in my opinion, be permitted to do
as he sees fit.”
Indeed, a case can be marie for the
universities’ encouragement of extracur
ricular research, especially lor a
prestigious think-tank like IDA.
Universities are ranked academically.
not by the caliber of their students, but
by the reputation of their faculties, which
attract the students.
Major Coup
The selection of a professor to work
for IDA. and particularly ior Jason, one
Penn State professor said, is a major
HERSCHEL W. LEIBOWiTZ
Professor oj Psychology
coup for a univcr>ity. It is perhaps one of
the best indications of laculty expertise.
No Penn State faculty member has e\er
been chosen as a Jason scholar.
Most of the unflattering fuss directed
against IDA has concerned Jason and its
highly classified work o n coun
terinsurgency. infiltration and guerrilla
warfare. SDS claims this work con
tributes to the manipulation of foreign
governments and people.
The Jason work, however, is con
ducted during the summer months and.
Norman L. Christcllcr, recently retired
IDA vice president and general manager,
emphasizes, olf campus.
Indeed, a Jason summer session held
in Massachusetts in 1967. according to
IDA literature, dealt with the scientific
aspects of counterinsurgency, infiltration
and guerrilla warfare. And the meeting
was so .secret. Science magazine claimed,
that the janitor had to receive a high
security clearance before he could clean
the building.
Criticism of IDA’s activities, of
course, is not limited to Jason. All other
divisions in the institute are engaged m
weapons research and evaluation, and
some sponsor studies or foreign govern
ments. populations and foreign policy—all
of which gives SDS plenty of ammunition.
llenry S. AVbinsVi, an associate pro
fessor of political science at Penn State
and a recent addition to the IDA rolls, is
acting as a consultant on a classified IDA
study of Australian and New Zealand
foreign policy. Sponsored by the
Economic and Political Studies Division,
the research, in the context of current
L\ S. involvement in Southeast Asia,
could contribute to American political
and economic policies toward that area in
the next decade.
Albinskt, who was not eager to talk
about the project, said his will be a dual
role of consultation with IDA people dur
ing the researching and writing of the
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA
paper, and analysis and criticism when
the paper is completed.
“It is one of the more sedate things I
can do with IDA,” he said with a chuckle.
Albinski did say that the report will
be a projection of the forc'gn defense
policies of the two Pacific island nations
in the future, and an overall prognosis of
developments in that part of the world.
An example of the methodology, hr said
will be a study of the inspirational and
motivational ieaturcs which influence
foreign policy decisions.
Contrary to the simplism of inherent
evil in every defense-sponsored project,
not all IDA or Defense Department
research has completely military nr
manipulative overtones. It is a sad com
ment. in fact, that often the greatest ad
vances—with broad implications for the
uplift of society—arc at the same time
the most potentially dangerous militarily,
and would not have been made if not for
its military potential.
This is the dilemma which the scien
tist faces. The classic example, or
course, was the work on nuclear iissmn
during World War 11. the immediateness
of which could not have fooled even the
most absent-mined professor. But the
same energy which culminates in
mushroom cloud can just as easily mean
undreamed affluence lor the entire globe.
Look at Future
“Every technological advance can be
used for humane or inhumane uses,”
Hcrschcl W. Leibow itz, professor of
psychology at Penn State, said. “The
military can take advantage of any
technology. Every person has to ask
himseir about the implicatons of his
research. We have to look at the long
range future. Will the advance be of
benefit or detriment to society?”
Licbowitz was faced with such a fun
damental choice three years ago. Ap
proached by IDA. he was asked to do
unclassified research on visual perception
as it related t o infrared imagery.
Translated, the Department of Defense
was interested in exposing camouflaged
Victcong and material infiltrating down
the Ho Chi Minh trail. Infa r o cl
pholnrec onnaissance. then being
researched al Michigan, offered the
.'insw'cr and LcibowHz was recognized as
one who could contribute to its develop
ment.
Lcibowitz is a lanky man. maybe 6
Feet 3 inches tall, with wisps of gray run
ning through his long black hair. He
speaks in short bursts, struggling to fit
words and phrases into the meaning he is
trying to convey. And unlike many scien
tists. his words reveal a troubled con
science over the uses of his contributions.
“Sure, there are military uses for in
formed imagery.” he said uncomfor
tably. “It’s being used right now in Viet
nam.”
Infrared imagery, essentially, is a
new tcchnologv which makes it possible
to develop a thermal map of terrain.
From a plane, an infrared camera can
pinpoint the location of a camouflaged
truck or a grouo of men in dense jungle,
simply because both : nicks and men nro
ducc a different quantity of heat than
their surroundings.
The same technique that can be used
militarily to hunt down human beings,
however, can be used to put food in the
distended stomach of a starving Binfran
baby. Infarcd technology, Lcibowitz ex
plains, is “an extension of m/in’s senses.”
It can be used to increase the food pro
duction by exposing unhealthy groves of
plants, which reflect less heat than
healthy one*; it can pinpoint industries,
and the water and thermal pollution they
contribute: it can map cities, volcanoes
and pinpoint hidden natural resources and
underground fires.
Wanted for Vietnam
Infrared technology, then, has a
diversity ot application literally as broad
as life and death. But Lcibowitz did not
have to fool himself. IDA wanted infrared
technology for use in Vietnam. So the
choice was not easy. It involved a look in
to tlie future. And a personal judgment.
“f believe the big problem of society
is not war and peace,’’ Lcibowitz said.
“It is finding natural resources. If we
don't find them, we will create conditions
which will lead to international tensions.
"The big problem will bo population.
We need more resources. We have the
choice ol either establishing a lower
population growlh rate, or increasing the
discovery rate of our resources. This (in
frared technology) may bo the only hope
for increasing the discovery rate.”
It likewise would be ditlicult to
charge a case of military complicity
against George M. Guthrie, a professor
and colleague of Lcibowitz in psychology.
Guthrie, a short, relaxed man with the
beginnings of a slight middle class, mid
dle aecd roll, will consult with IDA after
(he conclusion of his three year study of
the Philippines at the end of June.
Guthrie’s study is supported by (lie
Advanced Research -Projects Agency, (he
Defense Department agency w h i c h
sponsors most scientific research on ad
vanced weapons systems. The study,
though, is an unclassified, in
terdisciplinary analysis of the impact of
Stage, TV Entertainer
To Speak at Colloquy
Broadway entertainer and
television personality Orson
Bean will be the keynote
speaker for the Colloquy “The
Human Dimension of Educa
tion.”
Bean, who is the founder and
director of a new* style school
in Harlem, will speak Nov. 7 in
Rec Hall on the future of pro
gressive education in America.
This year Colloquy also will
sponsor a multimedia hap
pening in Rec Hall Nov. 8 enti
tled “In Search of America.”
The light show under the direc
tion of David Lloyd-Joncs is to
be a total sensory experience.
The show is constructed as a
series of films, light shows and
music tapes aimed mainly at
involving the audience with
its surroundings.
A community dinner also has
been scheduled for Nov. 9 as
loquy wee)
those involved in any aspect of
the program will participate in
the dinner meeting. The dinner
also is open to all who are in
terested in speaking with
members of the Colloquy pro
gram.
This year Colloquy will be
His story
was censored...
modernization on the attitudes, values
and behavior of the Filipino people.
The study has attracted social scien
tists from Northwestern. Chicago, Haver
ford, Swarthmore and Hawaii, plus a
GEORGE M. GUTHRIE
Professor of Psychology
number of Filipino participants from
Atcnco de Manila Universitv. In the
Quarterly Letter Report of Jul y -
September 1968, a few preliminary lind
ings were released:
“If there is one generalization we
could oftcr at this point, it is that the
impediments to the adoption of many lm-
based totally on the residence!
halls. All speakers and gufsts.'j
as well as any participating j
laculty members, will be hous- 1
ed either in residence halls, or I
fraternities. !
At present the November,
program has only the general
theme “The Human Dimension
of Education.” No concrete
plans will be made until all 1
participants arrive on campus'
and decide among themselves j
what will be discussed at the ■
Colloquy panels. I
"Support the
Artists Series"
A GIFT
FOR VIP*
('Visa's Important People
Our Members)
But some got through. They’ll tell you their stories
unabridged.
Unabridged —that’s the kind of Europe we give you.
Involvement with the total culture: talking, listening,
meeting, sharing.
Sure, you'll get the sights, the beaches, and some
swinging parties and you’ll enjoy them. But then,
anybody can give you those. We give you the facts
behind the sights, the reasons behind the events.
And we do it through the people.
We dish up the real Europe from the mod up-beat
action of Carnaby Street to the philosophical intensity
of the Left Bank.
You get the agony and the ecstasy; action and
involvement. Because that’s what Europe is ali about.
Institute of Cultural Education • P.O. Box 2388. Cincinnati. Ohio
INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL EDUCATION
P.O. Box 2388, Gwynne Building. Cincinnati. Ohio 45201
Please send me the full color, illustrated booklet. "European Dis
covery— 1970 College Student Programs", available at no cost to
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p.S. We advise those desiring a hold-my-hand-from-monument-to
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(PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY)
PAGE THREE
provcments do not lie in the laclc of in
formation or in inherently conservative
attitudes of the people. There is a great
awareness of the need for changes and of
the changes possible in agriculture,
health, education, government ad
ministration and other fields as well. Im
provements which almost every one
desires are impeded by the extremely
low income of a high percentage of the
pcoolc. the dearth or absence of ap
propriate models and the nature of
person to person relationships within the
society.”
Contains Implications
That the study has political impact
and contains implications for future
American po'icv pronouncements is evi
dent from the eagerness of IDA to
cmnlov Guthr’e as a consultant. And
Guthrie him c elf concedes that there are
rief'nite lessons to be learned from the
work
”T would hope tint the American
government and military personnel In a
nosition of influence would read our
books.” Guthrie snin. “The Philippines
are on excellent place to study the in
troduction °f tho American form of
government into Southeast Asia.
“I think.” Guthrie continued seriems
lv “that our research should lead the
Department of Defense to doubt the
wisdom of spreading arms around the
world ”
Anti-Establishment testimony such as
Guthrie’s is a melody to the ears of
university presidents who defended their
sponsorship of IDA because of its profess
ed independence from the government.
This is an important consideration in
view of the controversy over the military
fContinued from page five)
W-QWK
fm/mneiy-seven
THE
PROGRESSIVE ONE