Verbal fireworks may be in the offing tonight when controversial novelist Howard Fast clashes with Edwin O. Reischauer, professor of Far Eastern Studies, in a debate sponsored by the Liberal Union. The meeting is set to start at 8 p.m., in Emerson D.

Fast has agreed to uphold the negative side of the question, "Are United Nations Forces in Korea Serving the Cause of World Peace?" An audiences question period will follow the formal debate.

Fast's participation in tonight's discussion comes only two weeks after his scheduled speaking engagement before the Law School Ferum was unexpectedly cancelled. The sudden cancellation brought numerous protest. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. '38, associate professor of History, charged that students had been gripped by an atmosphere of fear.

After the Law Forum controversy, the Liberal Union issued a statement saying "Howard Fast was promised a platform at Harvard and he is going to get one." The group proceeded to extend a speaking invitation to Fast for tonight's debate.

Reischaner, who was born in Japan and received his early education there, has gained wide prominence as a Far Eastern expert. He helped plan the post-war occupation of Japan, and later participated in the formulation of the Japanese peace treaty.