Bown headed Sir: Those residents of Cambridge who have had
the astonishing ex- perience of seeing Mr Francis A. Bown striding through the town in his Enoch Powell kit, complete from turn-ups to Homburg, may have viewed with some amusement his claim (5 December) to be 'ac- tually involved in university life' (my italics). More seriously, I take exception to his implicit claim to represent the vast majority of undergraduate opinion—by which he can only mean that of under- graduate opinion in Cambridge. Now I am scarcely a left-wing ex- tremist', however 'small and easily identifiable' I may be; and I've no quarrel with Mr Bown's support- ing academic freedom. In fact I'm all for it. and the more academic freedom I can lay my hands on the better I shall be pleased. No. the trouble is that Mr Bown's silent majority just doesn't exist, as any- one who cares to check the results of last term's referendum will, I think. quickly find out, which makes his assertion that 'Mr Paterson's hysterical outburst seemed little concerned with reali- ty' sound rather ironic.
The truth is that more damage is being done to the work of those, who merely wish to proceed peace- ably along the paths of sanity when dealing with 'reform' in the university, by Mr Down's small and easily identifiable group of right-wing extremists than by any other factor. It is time that he re- alised that the majority of under- graduates do not support him; they support the men they elected at the beginning of this term to represent them. The fact that the under- graduates of Cambridge have had the sense to refrain from the vio- lent demonstrations that the news- papers were hoping for this term. does not mean that they are all at heart members of the George Corrie Society. Far from it. Am- way, who the hell is this George Corrie?
Charles Maude Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
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