Tubingen, 1968.

A number of people have speculated on the effect the European student revolt of 1968 had on then Professor Joseph Ratzinger. I can't add much to what Ronald Modras, a friend, says in his highly interesting article ("In His Own Footsteps," April 21). I would like to note, however, that Ratzinger's experience was likely more intense than Modras suggests.

Modras arrived as a student at Tubingen in the fall of 1968. By that time, things had settled down considerably at European universities. It was the previous spring when faculties were besieged by rebellious students. At the time, I was finishing my doctoral dissertation at the University of Strasbourg, a short ride across the border from Tubingen. The loss of moral and intellectual authority was keenly felt by the Strasbourg faculty. I could not defend my thesis on the grounds of the university because my professors were afraid to assemble there. Some teachers resigned.

I was not in Tubingen in 1968, so I have no firsthand knowledge of what Ratzinger and other faculty members faced. I do know that the French authorities had erected barriers at the frontier crossings with Germany to keep out student radicals who were suspected of fomenting agitation in France. There were rumors that the Army of the Rhine was to be called up from Colmar. Tubingen is a small, quiet town, but I doubt it was insulated from the anarchy that pervaded Western Europe that spring.

WILLIAM K. CARROLL

Chicago, Ill.