To the Editors of The Crimson:

Professor John Womack has objected to the appointment of Dr. Robert Leiken as an associate at the Center for International Affairs on the ground that he is a "propagandist" for the anti-Sandanista forces in Nicaragua. Dr. Leiken, in long articles for the New York Review of Books (a liberal periodical) and The New Republic, a Democratic Party supporter, was critical of the right-wing in the contras, but also critical of the Managua government.

Professor Womack is an apologist for Castro. He had never raised his voice in protest against the brutal treatment of former Fidelistas in Cuba, brutalities as shown by Armando Valladares to be as sickening as anywhere in the world. Professor Womack is also an avowed Marxist.

None of us in the Academy questions his right to teach and to express his point of view. When Professor Womack was attacked by William Buckley and by some Harvard alumni in statements to President Bok, we defended his right to teach and to a position at Harvard.

A University, necessarily, is a place that encompasses a wide range of views even in the same History department, as between Professors Womack and Pipes. This is the nature of pluralism and toleration. Since Professor Womack has been a beneficiary of that hospitality, he should be the first to defend that rather than seek to impose a form of thought control on the University. But, perhaps, if Professor Womack did realize that, he might not be a Marxist and an apologist for Castro.