DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Students for a Democratic Society, Herrnstein lecture, February-June, 1972 | 1972-02-20 Des Moines Register Article: 'Free Speech An Issue In U of I Talk?' Page 2

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Students for a Democratic Society, Herrnstein lecture, February-June, 1972

1972-02-20 Des Moines Register Article: 'Free Speech An Issue In U of I Talk?' Page 2

2/20/72
2 (OF 2)

Sees Main Issue as Free Speech
CISIT -- 
Continued from Page One
topic unrelated to the magazine article, according to Dr. Rudolph Schulz, chairman of the department.
"We are bringing a distinguished guest to the department and to the University of Iowa." Schulz said.
"And we should treat our guests as guests."
But the student radicals disagree.
"I think he is a racist," said Simon Piller, a sophomore from Highland Park, Ill. "His ideas serve a certain interest in this society - mainly they justify the continued Oppression of blacks, Latins, women and the working class,"
"Pseudo Scientific"
Piller charges that Herrnstein's article is "pseudo scientific," that it has an "academic veneer to it" which lends credibility to his theories. On the question of academic feedom, Piller says:
""You can't separate academic freedom from the effects of what he says. I view him like I view Hitler. This is the way is started in Germany when Hitler pushed his ideas on Jews. The first to buy it were the intellectuals."
In the Atlantic Monthly article, Herrnstein wrote that intelligence is mostly determined by heredity and that America will become a "meritocracy" in which the social structure will be stratified on the basis of IQ levels. 
The high IQ people are always on top and those with low IQs stuck on the bottom.
Sentences most often excerpted from the Herrnstein article include: "As technology advances, the tendency to be unemployed may run in the genes of a family about as certainly as bad teeth do now."
Also, "As the wealth and complexity of human society grow," Herrnstein wrote, "there will be precipitated out of the mass of humanity a low capacity (intellectual and otherwise) residue that may be unable to master the common occupations, cannot compete for sucess and achievement, and are most likely to be born to parents who have similarly failed."
Translated by the student radicals, this supposedly means "that poor people's problems exist because they are dumb and that the system is not to blame," a leaflet distributed here states.
Herrnstein has denied in several interviews folowing publication of his article that his remarks are racially tainted. He says the article is being interpreted as a political statement and not as a scholarly work.
The students say they are working "to remove his cover of scholarship and expose him for the racist quack he is."
Sitting in the middle of this is the university and the psychology department - which scheduled the Herrnestein visit long before the controversy surfaced, according to Schulz, the department chairman.
Neutral Stance
He said the department must maintain a neutral stance in the IQ article and that no defense of Herrnstein's right to speak should imply an endorsement of the article.
"The central issue as I see it is that a person - in a democracy such as ours - must be given the right to free speech and not be intimidated because he says something some people don't like," Schulz said. 
"This is the heart of the matter and this is why we're very much concerned," he added. "A university is here for free expression of all ideas - for all people to hear," Schulz asserted.

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2/20/72 2 (OF 2) Sees Main Issue as Free Speech CISIT -- Continued from Page One topic unrelated to the magazine article, according to Dr. Rudolph Schulz, chairman of the department. "We are bringing a distinguished guest to the department and to the University of Iowa." Schulz said. "And we should treat our guests as guests." But the student radicals disagree. "I think he is a racist," said Simon Piller, a sophomore from Highland Park, Ill. "His ideas serve a certain interest in this society - mainly they justify the continued Oppression of blacks, Latins, women and the working class," "Pseudo Scientific" Piller charges that Herrnstein's article is "pseudo scientific," that it has an "academic veneer to it" which lends credibility to his theories. On the question of academic feedom, Piller says: ""You can't separate academic freedom from the effects of what he says. I view him like I view Hitler. This is the way is started in Germany when Hitler pushed his ideas on Jews. The first to buy it were the intellectuals." In the Atlantic Monthly article, Herrnstein wrote that intelligence is mostly determined by heredity and that America will become a "meritocracy" in which the social structure will be stratified on the basis of IQ levels. The high IQ people are always on top and those with low IQs stuck on the bottom. Sentences most often excerpted from the Herrnstein article include: "As technology advances, the tendency to be unemployed may run in the genes of a family about as certainly as bad teeth do now." Also, "As the wealth and complexity of human society grow," Herrnstein wrote, "there will be precipitated out of the mass of humanity a low capacity (intellectual and otherwise) residue that may be unable to master the common occupations, cannot compete for sucess and achievement, and are most likely to be born to parents who have similarly failed." Translated by the student radicals, this supposedly means "that poor people's problems exist because they are dumb and that the system is not to blame," a leaflet distributed here states. Herrnstein has denied in several interviews folowing publication of his article that his remarks are racially tainted. He says the article is being interpreted as a political statement and not as a scholarly work. The students say they are working "to remove his cover of scholarship and expose him for the racist quack he is." Sitting in the middle of this is the university and the psychology department - which scheduled the Herrnestein visit long before the controversy surfaced, according to Schulz, the department chairman. Neutral Stance He said the department must maintain a neutral stance in the IQ article and that no defense of Herrnstein's right to speak should imply an endorsement of the article. "The central issue as I see it is that a person - in a democracy such as ours - must be given the right to free speech and not be intimidated because he says something some people don't like," Schulz said. "This is the heart of the matter and this is why we're very much concerned," he added. "A university is here for free expression of all ideas - for all people to hear," Schulz asserted.