Academicians and Viet Nam
Has academic community in America squared off against U.S. policy in Viet Nam?
“No,” says a University of Southern California professor of international relations who is a specialist on Soviet and Chinese Communist foreign policy.
In the current issue of “Communist Affairs,” published by USC's Research Institute on Communist Strategy and Propaganda. Dr. Rodger Swearingen, director of the Institute and editor of the publication, suggests that the loudest noises from the academic community against U.S. policy in Viet Nam are coming from a relatively small number of critics without credentials.
Referring to two advertisements in The New York Times, signed by literally thousands of “academicians and professional types,” the US<3 professor concluded that “the signers of these two advertisements constitute a small percentage ot he academic community and should not be regarded as a representative cross-section.”
For his magazine article “The Viet Nam Critics in Perspective,” Dr. Swearingen made case studies of the contents and signers of the two newspaper advertisements. The first of these, sponsored by the Greater Boston Faculty Committee on Viet Nam. adopted the line: “The U.S. should cease raids in the north,” “negotiate,” “use the* good offices of the U.N,” “assure the world that the U.S. will not use nuclear weapons in pursuit ot victory,” or “in pursuit of peace.”
Signers of this advertisement totaled 784 — but only two of them were identified with nationally recognized centers of Sino-Soviet affairs and only 15 of them were listed as being in Political Science.
“Careful tabulation of the professional fields of the signers suggests that the overwhelming majority of them spend full time in writing, teaching, counseling, and research where no background training, knowledge, or experience in foreign rela-tios is either required or assumed,” Dr. Swearingen noted in his analysis.
A seecond case study was made of a three page advertisement in the June 5, 1966 editions of The Times. This advertisement, entitled “On Vietnam” was sponsored by “Ad Hoc University Committee for the Statement on Vietnam,” and “Committee of the Professions.”
This advertisement, like the first, called for cessation of bombing and all other offensive operations; for a willingness to negotiate with the National Liberation Front; sought encouragement for free exercise of popular sovereigny in Vietnam; suggested that self-determination for the Vitnam-se would be best served by termination of our (U.S.) military presence there.
More than 6000 academicians and professional types representing 100 educational institutions signed the advertisement. But the individuals were no identified by department, discipline or specialization.
In their case study of this newspaper presentation, Dr. Swearingen and his staff went to the catalogues of the universities represented for individual identification of the signers' specialties.
Looking in this manner at the signers from Harvard. USC's researchers found people from Medicine, Biochemistry, Psychology. Education, Bacteriology, Romance Languages, Mathematics, Biology. History and Astronomy — but none from international relations or from Harvard's own Rus-
sian Center. The pattern was the same, for instance, for signers from Indiana University and from the University of California. Berkeley.
Turning their investigation aroiuid. Dr. Swearingen's staff sought to determine how many recognized scholars of foreign policy, Soviet or Chinese Communist affairs could be identified.
Of the more than 10 recognized specialists at Columbia and approximately the same number at USC, itself, none W’ere signers.
Dr. Swearingen observes in his Communist Affairs article “Recognized U.S. scholars on foreign policy, the Soviet Union, Communist China. Southeast Asia, Communism, and American security problems are conspicuously absent from this roster of critics.
“The assumptions on w h i c h the document (July 5. 1966) rests are dubious, if not false, and apparently are not held by an overwhelming majority of specialists on the subject in or out of government.
“The policy proposed is neither realistic nor in the best interests of the Vietnamese people or the United States.
“The American people tend to b > skeptical of experts,” Dr. Swearingen continued. “While the social sciences clearly are less well deve’oped and less precise than the pure sciences (and the analysts of Communist behavior have 1>.' n known to be wrong), it surely does not follow that anyone's guess is as good as that of anyone els
“Especially in dealing with communism and the Far East, there can bo no substitute for professional training and personal experience.” Dr. Swearingen declared.
University of Southern California
SUMMER
TROJAN
Vol. XVII
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1966
No. IS
150 youngsters to be guests of USC at student-managed camp
One hundred and twenty L<06 Angeles youngsters aged 8-12 — about half of them from the Watts district—will be guests of University of Southern California students (Aug. 27-Sept. 1) for an outing at Troy Camp in the mountains near Idyllwild.
Held annually for the benefit of youngsters who have no other opportunity for such a recreational venture, Troy Camp is staffed, managed and financed exclusively by USC students.
The campers were selected as “good citizens” through five schools in the USC area, the East Side Boys Club, and the Avalon Community Center. The camp is run by volunteer students — 10 men and 10 women—who must be everything from cooks to psychologists as they attend the youngsters.
The week's program includes swimming, horseback riding, hiking, archery, crafts, campfire sessions — all carefully supervised and building toward a final day of competition in track, field and swimming events.
The budget for Troy Camp is approximately $3000, of which a large percentage goes
for food. Financing this year’s camp began almost a year ago; the hat was passed at several football games, and football press books were sold. A special screening of academy award winner “Dr. Zhivago” aided the cause as well as an amateur film made at last year's camp, which was shown to campus living groups.
In the past, the close relationship between the campers and the USC counselors have developed emotional security and self-reliance in the youngsters and have helped instill desire for self-development in constructive directions.
Heading the camp staff are juniors Jeff Herten and NoeUe Green.
Both Miss Green and Herten have been on the Troy Camp staff for the last two years. The counselors for each
*	year are selected the previous February and their training begins then.
Herten is a pre-med major who has been active in several campus activities. He is a former yell leader. Miss Green, a member of Delta Gamma sorority, is majoring in Spanish and Latin American Studies.
Dr. John Meehan named physiology dept, chairman
The appointment of Dr. John P. Meehan as chairman of the Department of Physiology at the University of Southern California School of Medicine was announced today by Dr. Norman Topping, USC president, and Dr. Roger O. Egeberg. dean of the School of Medicine.
Dr. Meehan, a professor of physiology since 1964, joined the USC medical faculty in
1947,	the year he completed his courses at USC’s Medical school. He is noted for his research in heart disease, blood pressure and blood flow', and peripheral circulation.
Since his days as a medical student, the 43-year-old physiologist has been an interested and active participant in aero-medical research. During World War n, w'hen the only human centrifuge ever to be installed on a university campus was built at USC. Dr. Meehan took part in the acceleration and high altitude testing that marked the first studies to be carried out in this installation.
A native of San Francisco, Dr. Meehan was educated in San Marino and South Pasadena, completed his pre-medical work at California Institute of Technology, and received his M.D. degree from USC in 1948.
PHYSIOLOGY’S DR. JOHN P. MEEHAN Been on USC medical staff since 1917