Rutgers University School of Law. Committe of Review. Transcripts of the Hearings Regarding The Suspension of Abraham Glasser

The records of the hearings regarding the suspension of Abraham Glasser, Professor of Law, before the Faculty Committee of Review of the School of Law, consist of 8 transcripts dating May-June, 1953, which form a series within the School of Law records. The transcripts are arranged chronologically in one half manuscript box. The records were acquired through transferral by Peter Simmons, Dean of the Law School, in May, 1991. The Faculty Committee was referred to the case by University President Lewis Webster Jones, with Law Professor Arthur R. Lewis named chairman. In the course of the hearings, the Committee followed a strict reading of President Jones' questions of 1) Whether Glasser had violated the fixed policy of the Board of Trustees concerning invoking the fifth amendment when questioned about Communist Party affiliation or membership, and if so, 2) Whether there were any unusual circumstances which mitigated this violation, and they considered the question of Glasser's fitness as a teacher and lawyer to be out of their scope.

The transcripts record the Committee's investigation of Glasser's position as an attorney at the Department of Justice, from which he was suspended in 1941 on charges of Communism and espionage, the Department's subsequent investigation of Glasser, and Glasser's motivations for his refusal to testify to certain questions before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Though at the conclusion of its investigations the Justice Department found Glasser innocent of the specific charges, it determined that he had acted negligently in his handling of Department files and required his resignation.

Glasser stated that although the Department of Justice had cleared his name, the original charges followed him over the next twelve years through a series of positions, continuing after he had resigned from government service. Glasser regarded the facts that the charges to which he had invoked the fifth amendment in March, 1953 before the House Committee were those of which the Department of Justice had already exonerated him, and that he had been continually harassed on these charges, as unusual circumstances in which case the fixed policy of the Board of Trustees should not be applied. Glasser further stated that in preparing for his testimony before the House Subcommittee, he had planned not to answer any question which he had answered previously under oath before government bodies. He said he considered the Velde Committee to be an inciter of hysteria and destructive to the country. He acknowledged to the Faculty Committee that his testimony before Congress did not reflect well on the University.

Material related to these transcripts is included in the records of the Rutgers University School of Law, Dean's Office, General Office Files Subgroup, Series Group VIII (RG N7/A1/11). These records include correspondence between Law School Dean Lehan K. Tunks and Clark Byse, then Chairman of the Association of American Law School' s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure. This correspondence indicates 14 exhibits introduced into the hearing, which are noted in the transcripts, and Glasser's brief stating his case.