On the basis of the report of a planning committee headed by Dean Erwin N. Griswold of the Law School, the Ford Foundation yesterday appropriated $15,000,000 for an investigation of civil liberties by the Fund for the Republic.

The Ford Foundation created the fund last autumn to "support activities directed toward the elimination of restrictions on freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression in the United States."

Face Double Threat

The fund's directors stated that the major factor affecting civil liberties today, in their opinion, was the menace of communism and Communist influence in this country.

The directors advised, however, that this menace is coupled with the grave danger to civil liberties in methods that may be used to meet the threat.

Dean Griswold declined to expand this statement, or to comment on the relation of current Congressional probes into colleges and restrictions upon academic freedom.

List Areas

Accepting the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as their guide, the directors asserted the need for a statement in contemporary terms of the legacy of American liberty. They stated, "We propose to help restore respectability to individual freedom."

The statement added that the investigation will concentrate on five areas of civil liberties: restrictions and assaults upon academic freedom; due process and equal protection of the laws; protection of minority rights; censorship, boycotting and blacklisting by private groups; and guilt by association.