In his own words, his theory "points to a future in which--social classes not only continue but become ever more solidly built on inborn differences." He says that as the social barriers of the past, such as race, religion, nationality, title and inherited wealth, are knocked down by liberal reforms, actual social mobility will be blocked by "innate human differences."
What angered SDS so much about the article was not what it said, but the implications they saw in it concerning difference in intelligence between blacks and whites. In his article, Herrnstein cautiously evaded answering the question of what causes the commonly observed statistical difference in I.Q. scores between blacks and whites.
INVERTING Herrnstein's logic, SDS concluded that he was saying that current poorer classes are intellectually deficient, and thus the group equated Herrnstein with Berkeley geneticist Arthur Jensen and Stanford engineer William Shockley who say outright that blacks are the intellectual inferiors of whites. The clear implication in Herrnstein's article, SDS said, is that blacks must remain poor because they are genetically inferior.
Herrnstein's actual thoughts on racial differences in intelligence only came later, when he told The Crimson:
"What I think on the question of racial differences is this. First of all, there is a demonstrated difference in the scores of blacks and whites on intelligence tests. This has been shown by study after study. Second, there are also some scraps of evidence that this difference may be genetic. But finally, there is overwhelming evidence that blacks have been discriminated against. And it is altogether possible that this discrimination has affected intelligence test results."
"What the question boils down to is how much of the difference is genetic," he continued. "At this point we just can't tell. The difference in test scores could conceivably be entirely due to environmental factors. The genetic factor could be zero."
SDS pursued the issue nonetheless. Throughout the Fall semester, the group picketed and leafletted. In Herrnstein's main class, Social Sciences 15, "Introduction to Psychology." Many faculty members were incensed at the protests, which they considered to constitute personal harrassment.
In November, more than 100 faculty members--including some of Harvard's most prestigious luminaries--signed a statement which appeared as an advertisement in The Crimson supporting Herrnstein's right to teach his theories and denouncing the SDS protests. The statement termed the protests "brutish," and accused SDS of attacking Herrnstein personally through "false and offensive placards, leaflets, picketing and threats to disrupt his classes."
SDS's strongest protest against Herrnstein occurred in March, when 25 members of SDS noisily pursued Herrnstein for 20 minutes after he left his lecture in Soc Sci 15. As a result of the protest, Herrnstein and Dean of the College Charles P. Whitlock pressed charges against the demonstrators, alleging "intense personal harassment." The case--which was heard before the Committee on Rights and Responsibilities (CRR)--ended in a deadlock but his publishers were handed out.
Since the CRR hearing, the protests have quieted down, largely because SDS began to realize their Herrnstein campaign had almost no support among the student body. SDS itself has degenerated since its heyday in the late sixties into little more than a noisy splinter group, enjoying little if any student support.
ANOTHER FACULTY MEMBER was the subject of an attack, but in this case the source was not radical students: it was the U.S. Government.
Samuel L. Popkin, assistant professor of Government and an expert in Vietnamese affairs, was called before a Boston grand jury empanelled to investigate crime surrounding the Pentagon Papers case. Prier to coming to Harvard, Popkin had worked with Daniel Ellsberg '52, the self-acknowledged distributor of the Papers.
When called upon by the jury to testify on his knowledge of the leak of the Papers, Popkin refused, saying the information was gathered "in his capacity as a scholar, author and teacher," and that disclosure would violate the confidentiality of his sources in-his-research.
The case seesawed back and forth in the courts all last year, and seemed far from a conclusion in August. At times it looked as though Popkin would face immanent imprisonment: at others, the government appeared to be retreating at full speed. The case is likely to drag on well into the coming year.