Daily’s Dohrn editorial unfairly attacked alumni
I think it curious that your Nov. 1 editorial implies that alumni who protest Prof. Bernardine Dohrn’s employment are suffering from some kind of post-Sept. 11 emotional syndrome and “looking to vent their frustrations.” In my mind, the alumni are simply making a statement of protest both ideologically and materially, and it is you who have succumbed to nonsensical melodrama.
This civil statement of protest smells like a “witch-hunt?” We have the signs of an “inquisition” here? Alumni questioning Dohrn’s employment are making “totalitarian demands” that she be “purged?” Please! I’m surprised you didn’t work in references to “stormtroopers” and the “Night of the Long Knives!”
Why not go all out and claim that the alumni are “lobbing misguided missiles of discontent,” or draw an editorial cartoon of Sen. Joe McCarthy calling in airstrikes on the Law School!
So you disagree with the alumni’s case. Fine. You presented evidence to support yours. Great. Attempting to subvert their argument by presupposing some kind of war-fever and then adding your own over-dramatization was entirely unnecessary and imprudent. By tying their act of protest to the genuine emotions surrounding Sept. 11, you carelessly disparage both.
Greg Sumi
Weinberg ’90
Falwell not representative of Christian Republicans
If anyone has some gauze to lend me, I’d appreciate it. I’ve gouged my eyes out with my trusty No. 2 pencil after reading Thursday’s Daily. My beef is with the “Riiiiight…” column on page 3 of nyou. Here’s the offending quote: “‘Are we to believe that the solidly Republican Bible Belt is a vacuum of human kindness?’ Staff of the Northwestern Chronicle, without a hint of irony.”
I’m not sure what nyou Editor Jonathan Katz meant by that. Are you suggesting that the quote should be read ironically? Incidentally, the quote originally referred to a New York Times obituary that suggested that being a Republican and a charitable person was contrasting. I may be a moderate Democrat, but it seems to me that my Christian Republican brethren contribute quite a bit to charity. On the whole, they’re kind people with sunny countenances. The Chronicle took offense to The Times’ assertion, and now it appears that nyou is responding by derogating the Christian right.
Perhaps I read this incorrectly. But I’m rightfully disturbed that you chose to represent the Christian right with a picture of the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Why choose an aberrant Southern Baptist as a representative of the entire Christian right? I hope you wouldn’t include a picture of the Rev. Al Sharpton whenever your quotes pertained to African Americans. I’m not criticizing either reverend, just your editorial judgment.
One last thing: I’m glad to see that the Daily’s Forum swiftly adopted the administration’s party line regarding Law School Prof. Bernardine Dohrn. There was a time when the Daily prided itself on dissent against the powers that be. I guess that era has passed.
Brian Yeado
Medill sophomore
Military draft has protected U.S. freedoms in past wars
Mark Roberts’ Monday letter critiquing the draft is not only troubling, but ignores several historical facts. The “constitutional heritage” to which Roberts refers is a result of war, not resistance or diplomacy. The reason we have the 13th Amendment, which bars involuntary servitude, is a direct result of our brutal Civil War.
Roberts is able to enjoy liberty and some equality as a result of at least three noble wars this country has fought. Had it not been for the selfless acts of conscripted U.S. and British soldiers, this country might very well have been taken over by Adolf Hitler.
Nobody likes the idea of a draft. I certainly would not want to be fighting in Afghanistan right now. But as long as madmen violently threaten the ideas of liberty and equality, citizens of nations that espouse those values must be willing to defend them.
Our founding fathers envisioned a society of responsible citizens who cared about something larger than themselves. If Americans were to adopt the kind of apathy and selfishness revealed in Roberts’ letter, it would not be long before we would no longer enjoy liberty.
Matthew Gonzalez
Weinberg sophomore