 Havelock 's political engagement deepened rapidly . In 1931 , after Toronto police had blocked a public meeting by an organisation the police claimed was associated with communists , he and Underhill wrote a public letter of protest , calling the action " short @-@ sighted , inexpedient , and intolerable . " The letter led to considerable tension between the leadership of the university and the activist professors led by Havelock and Underhill , as well as a sharply critical public reaction . All of the major newspapers in Toronto , along with a number of prominent business leaders , denounced the professors as radical leftists and their behaviour as unbecoming of academics . 
