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May 23, 1969 Twenty-Five Cents A Journal of Free Voices A Window to the South The Texas Observer UH and the Grand Jury A Question of Morals Austin The last three months have been the most difficult the University of Houston administration has ever faced. A series of widely publicized events may have seriously damaged UH’s standing in the surrounding, predominantly conservative, community. The most omnious threat to the institution’s integrity comes from allegations Kaye Northcott recently made by a Houston grand jury that UH faculty, staff, and students have been involved in illegal and immoral activities. Although the grand jury has yet to return any indictments, a UH professor of political science, Dr. Bancroft C. Henderson, implicated in the grand jury’s investigation, quietly has resigned, and his resignation has been accepted by the UH regents. The Rev. Edwin de Forges Bennett, UH coordinator of religious activities and student leadership development, has been “relieved of his duties until further notice,” according to UH President Philip G. Hoffman. Hoffman said Bennett, a member of the university staff rather than faculty, will be “offered the privilege of a hearing by a faculty committee under procedures outlined in the UH Faculty and Photo by Robert Rohr It Stands for Moral Turpitude Staff Handbook.” Bennett is conferring with lawyers and is expected to fight to regain his position. In addition to the grand jury’s vague but scandalizing charges against members of the UH community, the university administration has faced a number of other crises during the spring semester. \(For a resume of black militants’ demands, a “mini-riot” on campus in March, the arrest of a “revolutionary” UH instructor, and a Houston senator’s call for an investigation of the UH administration, see the article THE UNIVERSITY OF Houston is new to such turmoil. Until 1963, it was a second-rate city college, catering mostly to Houstonians who wanted to get a degree in their hometown. In 1963, Texas took UH into its system of state-supported institutions, but the school remained in the shadow of the larger and more respected University of Texas. Still, the University of Houston, if for no other reason than its location in the state’s largest and most dynamic city, has great potential. Recently the calibre of its faculty and students has shown marked improvement. Still not an oustanding school, UH is a university on its way up the ladder of academic importance. Attention, non-subscribers Nearly 20,000 sample copies of this issue are being mailed to a selected list of people we believe may enjoy and value receiving the Observer regularly. We invite your attention to the advertise ment on page 22.