New York state and city officials have for some time worried about the presence of Communists in New York schools and colleges. The Rapp-Coudert committee of the State Legislature gained headlines a few years ago when it conducted a controversial investigation of various "subverstive" teachers in the Empire State. And since 1934 virtually all teachers in public and private institutions have been compelled by State law to swear allegiance to the Federal and New York constitutions.

The biggest uproar of all, however, has taken place in the past year over a new piece of legislation. Passed in Albany in March, 1949, the Act is designed to bar from public schools and colleges all teachers who belong to groups advocating the violent overthrow of the Government.

Feinberg Law

The Act is popularly known as the Feinberg Law, and is named after Benjamin F. Feinberg, former majority leader of the State Senate, who introduced the measure on March 10, 1949. The bill was supposed to enforce Section 12-a of the New York Civil Service Law, which prohibited employment in public services of persons preaching forceful overthrow of persons preaching forceful overthrow of the government.

Feinberg's measure directed the State Board of Regents to draw up a list of "subversive" organizations (those advocating overthrow) and to set regulations for disqualifying teachers belonging to these groups.

Despite heated opposition to the bill by groups of citizens and teachers, the Feinberg measure became law just before the close of the 1949 legislative session. In the Assembly, the vote was 122 to 25; in the Senate the vote was 41 to 14.

Regulations

On July 1, 1949, the law went into effect, and the Board of Regents prepared its regulations. The Board directed school authorities in each city to designate one or more officials to report on the loyalty of all teachers. If the officials discovered any evidence that a teacher belonged to a "subversive" group, this would "constitute prima facie evidence of disqualification for appointment to or retention of any office or position in the school system."

The accused teacher could then get a hearing, with "all rights to a fair trial" guaranteed, at which he could try to disprove the evidence against him.

(The Commissioner of Education added that "hearsay statements" should be rejected by reporting officials, but that "treasonable or subversive acts or statements outside the school are as much a basis for dismissal as are similar activities in school or in the presence of school children.")

Summons

But the Regents did not issue a list of "subversive" groups although it summoned five organizations--the Communist Party, the Socialist Workers Party, the International Workers of the World, and the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico--to a hearing.

On September 13, the Regents' rules were refined further by William Jansen, New York City superintendent of schools. Jansen published a complex reporting system; principals were to testify on their teachers, assistant superintendents on principals, and so on up to the apex: the city's Board of Education.

Courts Intervene

Three days later the Regents were supposed to bring out their list of "subversive" groups, but meanwhile the courts intervened, thus preventing publication of the Regents' list and also stopping school officials from preparing their loyalty reports.