College Trustees Block Faculty Ban on CIA Recruiters

Colby College trustees voted Saturday to keep the school open “to all groups” for recruiting, including the CIA, ending a debate that put liberal professors at odds with more conservative students.

The trustees, voting unanimously, also approved guidelines that would allow the college to require employers seeking to recruit to “discuss publicly on campus (their) policies and practices.”

In November, faculty members passed a motion by a 5-2 margin opposing campus recruitment by the CIA “as a result of its illegal incursions into Nicaragua, its role in illegal arms sales, its illegal investigations into the lives of private citizens . . . until it obeys the U.S. Constitution.”

In response, the Student Assn. passed a motion in favor of allowing CIA recruitment. Some opponents of the ban argued that the real issue was student rights.

Board Chairman H. Ridgely Bullock and Colby President William R. Cotter issued a statement Saturday saying trustees weighed “the very real concerns” of CIA critics against “Colby’s historic commitment to free speech and freedom of choice for its students.”

“We have concluded that free speech and freedom of choice must prevail,” they said, characterizing the vote as one in favor of “greater access and discussion, not less.”