There are only six University professors. To be one a man must be actively engaged in some frontier of research, and Zechariah Chafee's frontier is in the area of fundamental human rights. He finds, however, that "sometimes I don't even know what I'm teaching--history, law, literature all enter into it." Chafee has lately been using Social Sciences 120 as a proving ground for his theories; what he likes about the course is "the willingness on the part of the students to engage in discussion. It isn't very common to have it in a hundred-member undergraduate class."

Born in Providence, Chafee got his A.B. at Brown and his LL.B. at Harvard in 1913. He became an assistant professor in 1916, full professor three years later, Langdell Professor of Law in 1938, and University Professor last year. In 1920 Chafee wrote an article that almost cost him his job. America was in the throes of a Bolshevism scare, and Chafee unpolitically criticized the conduct of a New York Judge in the Abrams sedition case. Accusations and demands for Chafee's dismissal poured into the University. To settle the matter once and for all, the Overseers held what was known as "The Trial at the Harvard Club" and President Lowell himself appeared in the role of defense counsel. He took an unequivocal position in support of Chafee's right to espouse an unpopular cause, and the complaint was dropped.

Freedom of speech and its violations have been Chafee's main interest over the past decade. He was a member of the Commission on the Freedom of The Press from 1943 to 1947 with Archibald MacLeish, Reinhold Neibuhr, and Arthur Schlesinger, Sr., and as a result published a two-volume work "Government and Mass Communication" dealing with the relationship between governments and the press. Since 1948 he has been a member of the U.N. Subcommission on Freedom of Information and the Press. "At the Geneva Conference," he says, "we had twelve members. The Russian member and myself personally had very good relations, but business-wise we never could agree, and the vote was usually 11-1." Chafee is now trying to get the United Nations to pass the Convention on International Transmission of News and Right of Correction, drawn up by the Commission. This is "a very practical measure to enable foreign correspondents to get into a country more easily, stay there more surely, and do more effective work."

Right now Chafee is trying to get out the last two pamphlets for his course on human rights. "Here I'm showing how two men died in the Tower of London trying to get freedom of debate in the legislature--the freedom United tates Senators now enjoy. This is something precious and indispensable, and these men should be responsible to the Senate and the House. All possession of great power involves responsibility on the part of the holder."

When asked what he thought of Senator McCarthy and the McCarran committee, Chafee said "There's more than one to blame. I see no reason for singling out any specific individual ... The Senate itself must take appropriate action (such as) assessing the member a sum of money to compensate victims of his baseless accusations. This should sometimes be done whether a man is expelled or not."

"Things have come to pass," he continued, "that for a person who is not a member of the Congress ... to be abused by a member of the Senate on the floor is equivalent to a Medal of Honor."

In addition to his course on Human Rights, Chafee teaches one course a term at the Law School on Unfair Competition, and Comp. Lit. 181 on Copyrights. "I hope that this term I don't have so many Government concentrators in the copyright course. I'm not so interested in probing ino the subject from the lawyer's viewpoint, but rather how these rules affect the role of creative people--artists, musicians, writers. I want to find out how the law ought to be."

His chief non-academic activity is being chairman of the board of the Builders Iron Foundry in Providence, a factory turning out measuring and mixing devices. He also is an avid sailor, and he and Mrs. Chafee like nothing better than cruising around the Cape.

When asked about the political situation, Chafee says, "I think the Democrats have been in too long for their own good and the Republicans have deteriorated from being out so long." He disagrees with a lot of Administration policies, but admires President Truman and Dean Acheson, one of his first pupils. "The Republicans' attacks on Acheson are a good example of their unfitness to take over the Government." He also thinks General Eisenhower is doing a good job where he is and should stay there. And, though they were classmates at Law School, Chafee refuses to comment on Senator Taft as a possible Republican nominee. "But it's pleasant as you grow older," he says, "to know more and more important people."