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Salient Special Issue, April 17, 1969.

Fellow Student Comments

Fellow Student Comments

Last night I found out that one of the people who had been in Political Science classes with me for the last two years is now a security agent. He never gave any evidence that he was inclined towards the kind of cynical deviousness that being in the employ of the Security Service necessarily implies: he was quiet spoken, polite, apparently reasonable, and taciturn.

It almost goes without saying that the penetration of political spies is a total denial of the principle of academic freedom, and that academic freedom is one of the most valuable things that we have in this country.

But it comes as no great surprise to me to learn of the presence of such an agent at Vic. Just a slight shock to discover that he was actually in my classes for two years. It is no great surprise because the most important fact, as I see it, is that the Establishment is sickly-scared of freedom, and scared of the university in particular. So it sends its spies up here.

I don't care how scared the Establishment is, but I am concerned that their secret agents are allowed to step onto any campus in the country, and seek to undermine the freedom that we have. They should be absolutely prohibited. It is essential that they be exposed to the public gaze as soon as it is known who they are.

Hugh Fyson.