Dean DeVane was somewhat more helpful. He volunteered the names of two more alleged Communists, with whom Mr. Cohen was accused of association.
Both are still employed by Connecticut educational institutions. Since neither has been successfully proven a Communist, their names are omitted here. Both were active in The People's Party of Connecticut, as was Mr. Cohen.
One of these men, when asked recently if he knew the case of Robert S. Cohen, said that he did not recognize the name. Of the other, Mr. Cohen says, "We never did more than exchange greetings."
The Prudential Committee found their informant's report almost completely false. The committee also found itself beseiged with messages venching for Mr. Cohen--messages from its own philosophy, physics, and English departments, and from professors at Wesleyan University, where Mr. Cohen had been offered a job but had turned it down to try for the Yale position. Victor L. Butterfield, President of Wesleyan, personally telephoned President Seymour of Yale to register his protest.
Five days after Provost Furniss had first met Mr. Cohen, the Prudential Committee reversed its decision. Mr. Cohen received the usual formal statement of appointment two days later in the mail.
Mr. Cohen considers himself a lucky man. He believes that without his strong friends on the faculty, he never would have had a chance. He was willing to forget the whole incident until he was confronted with a number of rumors. Then he let Provost Furniss know immediately that inquiries were being made.
In another case the New Haven FBI system has again definitely violated its own code of ethics. This third case is one of scare tactics, employed not by a regular agent, but by one of the FBI's many liaison men. Provost Furniss told the story to the CRIMSON: Late one night recently, an eminently respectable Yale faculty member, a one-time refugee from Nazi Germany, received a mysterious telephone call.
Why aren't you a naturalized American citizen, asked the voice at the other end of the line.
I am, the professor replied. I was naturalized two years ago.
Oh, said the voice. Well, you had better report it. It isn't on the records.
The voice continued, asking such questions as: How do you like living in this country?
The next day, the professor appeared at Provost Furniss' office, deeply upset by the whole incident.
The Provost called the liaison man into his office and told him to cut it out. Thus, in one case the Fill system was discovered using such scare tactics and stopped. The question remains as to how many similar incidents have never been reported, but just brooded over by the victims.
It is also interesting to note how misinformed this liaison man was on the professor's citizenship. This scope of his misinformation might indeed be compared to that of the man who reported Mr. Cohen was a Communist.
The FBI and University tactics presented above have taken their toll at Yale. Their ramifications have gone far beyond the three scholars immediately affected. Rumors of the methods used have circled and re-circled the Yale campus. And with each circle, they became more and more exaggerated. The first rumor to reach the CRIMSON, in fact read in part. "Reginning this year, Yale officials began the practice of checking their complete appointment lists with the FBI."
In the face of such rumors, it is only surprising that the young graduate students and faculty members at Yale are no more nervous than they seem to be