David Saxon once defied university policy by refusing to sign an
oath pledging that he was not a member of the Communist party, and
was dismissed as a professor at UCLA, putting his career in
jeopardy. He would overcome that setback, however, to go on to be
president of the University of California.
In the midst of growing Cold War hysteria, Saxon ““ who
died at the UCLA Medical Center Thursday ““ along with 30
other University of California faculty members, were dismissed from
their positions in 1950 because they would not sign a contract
stating that they were not communists.
The 1949 loyalty oath was created by the UC to appease the state
legislature so it would not take the power to determine an
employee’s loyalty to the U.S. government into its own
hands.
In a speech given to the American Bankers Association on Nov. 2,
1949, then-UC President Robert Sproul articulated the
university’s reasons for requiring the loyalty oath.
In the address, he emphasized that universities “must ask
of those who teach in them a higher standard of conduct and a more
complete assurance of loyalty to the democratic state than is
required of men in less responsible walks of life,” the Daily
Bruin reported on Nov. 3, 1949.
But some professors believed that signing the oath would impede
their ability to teach freely and honestly, arguing that the oath
undermined the UC’s intellectual independence.
In a speech he gave at the Loyalty Oath’s 50th Anniversary
Symposium in Berkeley in 1999, Saxon said one of his reasons for
not signing was that the university should remain a place for
academic freedom and resist pressure from external political
forces.
“I felt it was a great threat to the intellectual
independence of the university, it was inconsistent with my concept
of the university, and it was something that I simply was not
prepared to go along with,” said Saxon, who was one of two
UCLA professors dismissed over the issue.
Choosing not to sign the oath held larger implications than just
supporting academic freedom.
By refusing to sign, Saxon “put his career, his
livelihood, ability to feed his family on the line,” said
John Sandbrook, a long-time UCLA administrator.
A struggle ensued between the UC Board of Regents, the Academic
Senate and UC faculty members. Questions arose about the
university’s right to require employees to declare
non-affiliation with the Communist Party and to dismiss employees
based on their political beliefs.
The university maintained the stance that members of the
Communist Party should not be allowed to hold a position at the UC
because they would negatively influence students and be unable to
uphold their duty with respect to free pursuit of truth.
Charles Muscatine, who was an assistant professor of English at
Berkeley in 1950, refused to sign the oath because it violated the
Constitutional principle of academic freedom.
“I was teaching freshman English and telling my students
to … stick by your convictions. I didn’t see how I could
face my class if I signed the oath,” he said.
The UC felt the effects of the controversy on campus.
Fifty-five courses were dropped as a result of the 37 faculty
members who resigned in protest of the dismissal of the 31
non-signers.
In 1950, the California Supreme Court ruled the loyalty oath
unconstitutional, and the regents were required to offer employment
to non-signers.
Both David Saxon and Charles Muscatine were among those who
returned to their respective universities.
Muscatine said he was happy to come back to a faculty that had
shown a great deal support and sympathy for the non-signers.
Though the majority of the faculty at Berkeley chose to sign the
oath for various reasons, they set up a fund to pay the salaries of
those who did not sign. Muscatine admired the fact that so many
members of the faculty were against the oath.
“It took a certain quality in the faculty to oppose the
oath in the first place,” he said.
Though Communism is no longer targeted by the university, UC
employees are still required to sign a state oath swearing to
“support and defend the Constitution of the United States and
the Constitution of California against all enemies, foreign and
domestic.”
With reports from Jennifer Mishory, Bruin
contributor.