Universities are part of the broader society and I can tell you from first hand experience that administrations come under a lot of pressure from a lot of sources. But nonetheless I have some vague sense of what it's like to have a legislative body harassing you, to have newspapers, to have a broader political arena that is rife with fear and a desire to intimidate. But there is a line that no self-respecting institution of higher education can allow itself to cross. And there is no question that that line was crossed here in the late 1940s. As I say, I don't wish to be judgemental or pious about this.
Presidents are under some considerable pressure.
It was a disgrace. It was, in the dictionary sense not in the perverted sense, un-American. Indeed there are times when I think we're altogether too free and civilized, but I get over that sentiment within a few minutes, no matter what outrage has been perpetrated. But this is a very free and open institution. I have very rarely encountered that, and I have never encountered that from the political arena.