Former Crimson president John Simon is now, oddly enough, a professor at Yale Law School. In looking back, Simon says he considers the Crimson experience with the FBI "not out of character" with the series of 1975 revelations on counterintelligence programs (COINTELPRO), which revealed FBI pressure tactics in the Universities of Chicago and Arizona, among others.

The Buckley Rebuttal

BUCKLEY NOW REFUSES to comment on the matter except for a formal statement by letter sent to The Crimson after The Nation article. Buckley, editor of the National Review, only states that the "principal point" of Diamond's Nation article was "its pointlessness." He also addresses a lesscentral point or two. First, on the evidence that he sent blind copies of his correspondence with the Crimson president to the FBI, Buckley notes unabashedly, "I sent (sic) blind copies of letters I write half of the time, usually to friends who I suspect would be interested." Second, he claims "I don't see any record for not keeping files on Congressmen if they are suspected of illegal activity." (He does not explain the relation of this statement to the issue.) Third, he "feels no obligation to apologize for other people's lies."

Buckley, Simon and Fairfield have had little contact in their post-college years. But Fairfield does recall one brief encounter. While still working for the Reporter in 1951, he was waiting alone in a ground-floor elevator of the National Press Building when Buckley entered the car:

"Hello, Bill," I said in all amiability, not being one to hold grudges.

He glanced at me, saying nothing, then faced the blank rear wall of the car and remained in that position until I got off at my 8th-floor office.

When Buckley chaired the Yale debate team 30 years ago, he always won. But in his last round in 1950, the orator lost to Harvard after The Crimson coached the Harvard team by providing it with Crimson files. The subject: academic freedom.