First Published: The Stanford Daily, Volume 197, Issue 67, 30 May 1990.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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As concerned graduate students we reject the terms of the argument that have been put forth over the last week in The Stanford Daily’s coverage of the League of Revolutionary Struggle’s presence in various progressive groups on campus.
We ask, what is wrong with being in the League? According to the democracy the right espouses at their convenience, there is nothing illegal or immoral about belonging to a leftist political party. We should judge these alleged members of the League by their political program and their activism. If we agree with the necessary progressive change they have helped to bring about on campus, then we should applaud them, not condemn them according to a rhetoric that should have been buried with McCarthy.
As members of the left, we have known and worked with members of the League for years. Whether or not we agree with all of their agenda, it has never been hidden, and their political philosophy has a long-standing tradition in the nation’s political life. While we are concerned with the League’s tactic of secret membership, recent attacks by The Stanford Review and The Daily legitimate their caution. How can The Daily expect members of this group to disclose their identity in the face of such coercion and hostility?
As campus activists, we would like to address the progressive groups on campus, specifically the student of color groups. We cannot let The Daily’s attack create a divisive paranoia or cripple our agenda in the face of a conservative backlash. We call on all progressive students, from the Pro-Choice Alliance to the Stanford Central America Action Network, to continue supporting the “secret” agenda: to broaden the curriculum to include other voices, to broaden faculty and student representation, to broaden the spectrum of free speech on campus. These are concerns shared by all progressive students, not just students of color, not just the League.
Jose Jesus Cazares
Benjamin Robinson
Maria Saldana
Ming-Yeung Lu Graduate students, modern thought and literature
Marcia Klotz Graduate student, German studies
Diane Nelson Graduate student, anthropology
Michael Reilly
Marisa Sanders Graduate students, Latin American studies
Sha Xin Wei Graduate student, mathematics