LAWRENCE FERTIG 535 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK, N.Y. 10017 July 29, 1968 Mr. Allan M. Cartter Vice President and Chancellor New York University Dear Allan: I called your office today to suggest that you may wish to have a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Board to discuss the Hatchett affair. The Hatchett matter can have very serious consequences for New York University. I would call your attention to some of its broader implications. Quotations have appeared in the press of letters and state- ments by several members of the Board. It is my under- standing that Board members should not express themselves publicly about controversial decisions of the Administration. Such expressions of opinion in the press give the impression of a divided University -- which of course is not true. I have a feeling that these quotations by Board members were "leaked" to the press by some of our own officials. Perhaps they did this to build up opinion in favor of the appointment of Hatchett. Obviously they did not release negative re-actions, although there must have been plenty of them. Such action by the staff should be reprimanded as not being in the best interests of the University. Another important question to raise is one regarding your Assistant who was responsible for investigating Hatchett. Undoubtedly you relied upon an official of some importance on your staff to give you information and an opinion regard- ing Hatchett before he was appointed. You stated to the press that you did not know of the Hatchett article entitled "The Phenomenon of the Anti-Black Jews and the Black Anglo- Saxons: A Study in Educational Perfidy". This obviously anti-semitic piece created a furor. How is it possible for your Assistant not to have known of this piece if he made an investigation of Hatchett? All he had to do is refer to the Index of the New York Times or any other summary of public activity. If, on the other hand, he knew of the article and did not tell you about it he certainly is guilty of reprehensible conduct.