Letters to the Editor

No Academic Freedom

Dear Editor:

I sent the following e-mail to Karen Gould, the President of Brooklyn College, on 28 January 2013. There has to date been no response; nor do I expect one, for whatever answer Dr. Gould may give can only have rough ramifications for her and her college:

TO: Karen Gould, President, Brooklyn College CUNY

RE: “BDS Movement Against Israel” Hate Forum

Dear President Gould:

As you well know, a “BDS Movement Against Israel” program is now scheduled next week at your College. The event is sponsored by one of your academic Departments. Given the backgrounds and past records of the scheduled speakers, the event promises to be an unrestrained hatred-inducing pep rally.

You have been credibly reported to chant the mantra of “Academic Freedom” in response to concerns expressed to you.

And, quite frankly, as an Adjunct faculty member at a CUNY school, and a supporter of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, I am also a staunch proponent of academic freedom on our college and university campuses.

But if you truly champion the cause of academic freedom, then you will be content-neutral in defending the free expression rights of your students and faculty members.

Accordingly, I propose to work with some Brooklyn College students to organize an event to entitled “The Black Race and the Bell Curve,” where topics addressed would include (1) the disproportionate propensity of Black people to commit crimes; (2) Out-of-wedlock births in the Black community; (3) Collecting reparations from the Black community for the riots in Cambridge, Harlem, Watts, Cicero, North Philadelphia, Newark, Camden, Los Angeles, Louisville, et cetera; and (4) Repealing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution so that slavery can be reinstituted and the Black people can thereby be taken off the streets and put to productive work on the plantations.

If such an event were to be planned for the Brooklyn College campus next month (which it will not, because I certainly have no intention of actualizing this hypothetical hyperbolical proposal), would you be giving it the same “Academic Freedom” defense as you now accord the event scheduled on your campus on 7 February? Would you tolerate one of your academic Departments sponsorship of such an event?

Is there a single standard for “Academic Freedom” at Brooklyn College, or is special license given when it comes to bashing Jews and Israel?

Kenneth H. Ryesky, Esq.

Entertained and inspired

Dear Editor

Thank you for your fabulous column, Whos in the kitchen, thank you for Judy Joszef’s articles which entertain and inspire me.

Beth Alter

Woodmere

Lucky little girl

Dear Editor

Whenever I see my neice Meira Ganz, I say to myself, “what a lucky little girl”! Her life would have been absolutely dismal if she had been left with her birth mother. She hit the jackpot with the Ganzes. They are the most loving, giving and generous people around. Thank G-d, she has a wonderful and happy life thanks to them. May Hashem bless them.

Lila Goodman