"Over sixty professors, clergymen, and other citizens of Massachusetts" have formed a new committee to aid Dirk J. Struik, suspended M.I.T. professor, George Sarton, professor of History and Science, emeritus, and the Committee's chairman, announced yesterday.

Struik is now under indictment for "advocating the overthrow of the Commonwealth."

Among the Committee's members are Mark DeWolfe Howe '28, professor of Law, Kirtley F. Mather, professor of Geology, Ralph Barton Perry '29, Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy, emeritus, and Bart Jan Bok, Robert W. Willison Professor of Applied Astronomy.

The Struik Defense Committee plans to send appeals "to as many people as possible to get contributions," according to Sarton. The committee's first statement, released yesterday, declared. "We believe that Professor Struik should have the right to express his views without intimidation... Agreement or disagreement with Professor Struik's views are not the issue here..."

The move to set up the Struik Defense Committee began several weeks ago when Sarton sent Mather a letter saying that the Civil Liberties Union, of which Mather is a member, had not been speaking out on this matter and that "we ought to do something for Struik."