Four College professors will fly to Moscow tomorrow to take part in an arms-control conference with Soviet scientists. The gathering, which is privately sponsored, will also include participants from other U.S. colleges and from many other countries.
It will be a "candid, rather private affair," consisting primarily of round-table discussions, according to Thomas C. Schelling, professor of Economics and a member of the University's delegation. While talk will center around the problems of disarmament, no specific agenda will be decided until the conferees reach Moscow, he said.
While the Moscow gathering has the formal title of "Pugwash Conference," it will not have the financial sponsorship of Cyrus Eaton, the railroad magnate who paid for many previous meetings. "We have had a friendly parting, but a parting nonetheless, with Mr. Eaton," remarked Louis B. Sohn, professor of Law, who is attending as an authority on world organization.
One result of the conference may be a decision to change the name of future gatherings. The current name is derived from Eaton's estate in Nova Scotia, where the first meeting was held in 1957. Three members of the U.S. Pugwash Committee have declared their intention to propose such a change, because "Since Mr. Eaton has continued to play an active and controversial role in political affairs, the scientists have felt that his continuing support of their conference may place them in the wrong light." Eaton was recently awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.
In addition to Schelling and Sohn, participants from the University are Paul M. Doty, professor of Chemistry, and John T. Edsall, professor of Biochemistry.
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