Harvard: Case Reopened

When Harvard's Dr. Helen Deane Markham, assistant professor of anatomy, refused last March to tell the Jenner subcommittee whether or not she was a Communist, she appeared to some liberals to be a courageous champion of academic freedom. The Corporation of Harvard University, after questioning her on its own, concluded that Anatomist Markham was in fact no Red. It tagged her with "misconduct" for hiding behind the Fifth Amendment, but decided not to fire her (TIME, June 1). Last week the Corporation was forced to reconsider.

Called before the Jenner subcommittee again, Mrs. Markham not only refused to answer questions but implied that Harvard approved her defiance. Then, last month, former FBI Undercover Agent Herbert Philbrick flatly identified her and her husband as former Communists. In 1947, Philbrick told the subcommittee, he attended a meeting of Boston Communists. Subject of discussion: whether Dr. Markham should be transferred to Boston, or whether she should continue her work in the Cambridge Communist cell. Though both the Markhams have denied the Philbrick testimony, the Harvard Corporation decided last week to "reopen" her case, suspend her with pay until she has "an opportunity to be heard."

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