The right of a university. to inquire into the political beliefs and affiliations of a faculty member was defended. Wednesday by Dr. William W. Frye, dean of the Louisiana State university medical school.
Dr. Frye's assertion was in answer to a charge of an LSU medical professor who resigned after rejecting the right of the university to inquire into allegations he was a member of a subversive organization.
The professor, Dr. William Obrinsky, has circulated a letter contending the resignation was forced
by "the present political atmosphere known as McCarthyism."
Dr. Frye said that Dr. Obrin-sky was given ample opportunity to clarify his stand, but declined to do so. The medical school dean pointed to an excerpt from Dr. Obrinsky's letter, addressed to "my colleagues and students." It read:
"On Nov. 5, 1953, I was informed in a letter from the administration that "the university is in possession of certain derogatory information received from a reliable, confidential investigative source which we are not privileged to identify, relating to your alleged membership in an organization classified as subversive."
Source Not Revealed Dr. Frye said he could not reveal the nature or the source of the charges against Dr. Obrinsky, or disclose any portion of the letter not covered by the former professor.
Dr. Obrinsky, who was an associate professor of pediatrics, has been identified as a former member of the board of the Southern Conference Educational Fund. The SCEF was the subject of a U. S. Senate subcommittee hearing here in March. The subcommittee probed into what it said was Communist influence in the SCEF.
