Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

The allegations that appeared in yesterday's letters to the editor section that I used an "underhanded tactic of re-publishing a twisted Boston Globe misquote" are based on misunderstandings. The Boston Globe letter to the editor referred to by Thompson and Mooney did not turn up in an online search or in Lexis-Nexis.

A call to the Boston Globe confirmed that no such letter was ever published. In short, if Richardson was misquoted as presuming the accused were a rapist, I could not have known. Additionally, on a tape of a SAFER meeting in my possession, a SAFER leader makes the very same mistake as Richardson, using the word "attacker" in place of "accused."

My opposition to the Sexual Misconduct Policy is motivated only by a concern for fairness and decency. Interested persons should consult the Columbia ACLU Committee on Disciplinary Procedure website at www.columbia.edu/cu/aclu/cdp.

Karl Ward, CC '01

Dec. 7, 2000