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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 27, No. 7. 1964.

[editor's reply]

The facts Mr. March has provided show that Executive did not prevent the Mormons from using the Little Theatre, but they do not show that members of the Executive did not try to achieve this. As Mr. March must be aware, at least one Executive member stated that he was opposed to the Mormons being allowed to come to the University at all. There was certainly a feeling that the Mormons were undesirable, and the eventual decision of the Executive to support them was in spite of the attempts of certain members to keep them out.

On the matter of hypnotism he says "an existent ban on the club would be lifted ..."

Where did this ban come from? I suggest that the action in banning the hypnotists in the first place was the result of a group of individuals who, quite without any justification, consider themselves to be the moral guardians of students.

So the minutes show that the discussion which took place after Mr. Blizard's departure was confined to the wording of the motion. Apart from the obvious suggestion that one cannot decide the form of a motion without altering its meaning. I would suggest that the minutes do not show any such thing. I suggest that anyone who cares to read them will conclude, as I did that the two motions of censure (you only refer to one) were passed while Mr. Blizard was absent. Whether or not Mr. Blizard was present, the Executive had no right to censure him for expressing his political views in an accepted democratic manner.

The Executive was not bound to censure the people responsible for the so-called "Black Mass." The Executive has the power to prosecute any student for almost anything, but this does not confer on them any duty to do so. We must condemn people who use constitutional means if they are wrong, just as we cannot accept the plea that the Nazis were only obeying the orders of Herr Hitler when they slaughtered the Jews. The principle Is identical.

Mr. March's letter deals almost exclusively with the official statements of Executive as a body. My editorial was, however, aimed at certain members only—people I believe have shown themselves to be unfitted to hold any responsibility for the destinies of students The minutes of meetings do not record the full details of their activities—they are, after all, only a record of motions tabled.

D.P.W., Ed.