Belated Honor for Gay Teachers Expelled in 1960

Four decades after Smith College dismissed three gay professors who were caught up in a sex scandal but later exonerated, the school is honoring the men with a scholarship and a program on civil liberties.

Some say the college owes them more, including an apology. But the two surviving professors are not expecting it.

“If they gave me money, that would be nifty,” said Edward Spofford, one of the professors. “But if they did that or gave us a formal apology, they might be compromising their position if we ever wanted to sue them. I’m sure they don’t want to admit any wrongdoing.”

Smith did not renew its contracts with Spofford and Joel Dorius after they were convicted in 1960 for possessing pornography. A third professor--and the only one with tenure--Newton Arvin, was allowed to retire after his conviction on the same charge. All three were exonerated by the state’s highest court by 1963, the year Arvin died.

Smith’s board of trustees voted last month to create the Dorius/Spofford Fund for the Study of Civil Liberties and Freedom of Expression, a $100,000 fund that will pay for lectures, research and programs on civil liberties.

The board also created the Newton Arvin Prize in American Studies, a $500 annual scholarship.

Despite appeals from faculty and community members, the board did not apologize.

“Many of my colleagues were interested in an apology or expression of regret,” said Jefferson Hunter, chairman of the faculty council. “The reason the board gave us was that it wouldn’t be right to apologize because no one could know what really happened 40 years ago.”

Both Spofford and Dorius continued teaching after leaving Smith. Spofford, 70, retired from Stanford University in 1988. Dorius, 83, retired from San Francisco State University in the 1980s.

Smith spokeswoman Laurie Fenlason said the board’s action was prompted by “The Scarlet Professor,” a book by Northampton author Barry Werth about the professors’ dismissal. When the book was published last year, Werth proposed that the college apologize.

“Nobody said they weren’t good teachers. They were fired because they were perceived as dirty men,” Werth said. “There was a real purity binge going on throughout the state at the time.”

Bill Newman, head of the American Civil Liberties Union’s western Massachusetts office, called the civil liberties program and scholarship fund an “unimpressive pittance.”

But Dorius said: “I think it’s all quite remarkable. After more than 40 years of doing somebody in, they up and acknowledge what happened.”