The Culík Case

To the Editors:

Since the appearance of Noam Chomsky’s letter (December 11) describing the refusal of the Czechoslovak authorities to give Dr. Karel Culík permission to emigrate from Czechoslovakia—where he is denied the opportunity to pursue his research in theoretical linguistics and computer science—I have learned that the US Consulate in Prague has awarded third preference immigration visas to Dr. Culík and his family to enable him to take up a research associateship in the department of computer and information science at the University of Massachusetts. Thus, the only thing standing between Dr. Culík and the pursuit of his research career in a free environment is permission for emigration from the Czechoslovak authorities. I thus urge readers of the Review to write to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of CSSR, Loretanske Nam. 1, Prague 1—Mala Strana, Czechoslovakia, urging that they give him permission to emigrate.

Michael A. Arbib

University of Massachusetts