Letters to the Editor

Article Misses Crucial Facts About Nadia Abu El-Haj’s Critics

To the Editor:
I wish to comment on the article “Alums Question BC Prof’s Legitimacy,” (Sept. 10). The infinitely better New York Times article pointed out that Ms. Stern is in fact not a resident of Israel, as your article stated, but an illegal settler in the Israeli-occupied, Palestinian West Bank. I find this distinction vital for an article that aims to sketch a complete picture because it shows that Ms. Stern herself may have an agenda in so harshly criticizing Professor Abu El-Haj. I would also have been interested in finding out what qualifies Ms. Stern—other than the fact that she graduated from Barnard with a bachelor’s degree—to pass judgment on the academic work of an acclaimed scholar such as Professor El-Haj.

Hanna Baumann, BC ’08
Sept. 11, 2007

Criticisms of Navy Portray a False Picture of Academy Life

To the Editor:
With an open mind, I write this response to Idris Leppla’s opinion piece “The Truth About the Academies” (Sept. 7). I myself am a senior at the Naval Academy and while in agreement with some of what she had to say, am disappointed with the majority of the article. I am not here to argue the standard party line that one would associate with a midshipman, but I hope to encourage a more open-minded approach to the next installment in the series. It should be important to note that the Academy, at least mine, is not the conservative, emotionless, soldier factory that your readers are now “discovering.” I am an honors English major, traveled to Chile and Argentina last summer purely for cultural immersion, and had a poem published in the school’s literary magazine last year. I have also flown in an F-18, driven a ship and submarine, and yes, perhaps once or twice, raised my voice to an underclass, but probably because they couldn’t remember who wrote Invisible Man. I am not trying to trumpet my accomplishments, but instead, those of the Academy.
To be completely forthright, I would not associate such shoddy research with a publication from such a distinguished university. I am not about to argue that my Academy would do any better—I won’t go that far. We are what we are, and that is, unfortunately, not what Ms. Leppla has portrayed. As a midshipman, I am a bit ashamed that she received such poor treatment from the administration, but I wish she would see beyond that. We are not a single gentleman on the other end of the line, but a complex pastiche of individuals, which creates a whole that is unique among colleges. I wish your author would put in the slightest effort, and see this for herself.

Jeff Ryan
Sept. 8, 2007

Author Shows Naivete in Thoughts About the Military

To the Editor:
It’s tough to read Idris Leppla’s recent piece, “The Truth About the Academies” (Sept. 7) without coming to the conclusion that the whole thing is just a big put-on. I can’t imagine anyone actually debating over a choice between UC Berkeley and Annapolis—the polar extremes represented by these two colleges would make it seem unlikely that these choices would appear on the same student’s wish list.
It’s also highly unlikely that ANY prospective student (or his family) is in any way unaware of just what is involved when agreeing to attend Annapolis. Even those who know very little about the Service Academies know for certain that it is not just college, but merely the start of a tour of service in the armed forces, and that nothing is official until all the papers are signed. That means no yelling at applicants, and no “shaving off their hair” until the applicant has made his choice clear. It’s almost impossible to believe that Ms. Leppla was unaware that the Naval Academy is part of the United States Armed Services, although spending almost four years around Columbia and Barnard, with the pervasive anti-war and anti-military atmosphere, might have had an effect on her knowledge of the real world.
In any event, my hat is off to Ms. Leppla’s brother. Whether Ms. Leppla chooses to believe it or not, our nation’s security and freedom, along with Ms. Leppla’s right to complain so freely, depends on such men as her brother, who are willing to put themselves out on the front lines in defense of the United States. I hope Ms. Leppla gets the courage to realize that there are enemies who want to destroy us, and that the United States is worth fighting for.

David McNally
Sept. 12, 2007

Criticisms of Navy Miss the Nature of The Author’s Experience

To the Editor:
In his Political Theory class today, Professor Dennis Dalton was lecturing on the Tao Te Ching—he asked the class why we feel the need to hate as human beings. Then he read aloud some of the comments that have been posted on the Columbia Spectator website in response to Idris Leppla’s editorial “The Truth About the Academies” (Sept. 7). For example, NJ_mother wrote, “Columbia, or any university that would accept her as a student should be totally ashamed and embarrassed to admit that she is a student of theirs. She is a disgrace to her brother who seems like an honorable person. She is a disgrace to her community. She ISN’T a disgrace to her mother, because her mother is even more of a loser.” Intrigued by the vitriol of the comments, I rushed home to read Ms. Leppla’s article, to find out just what was so offensive to so many people.
What I read made me even more confused. It was clear to me that this woman was simply providing an account of her own personal experience—she was not pontificating on the evils of the Navy, nor was she making a political statement about our troops. She was simply putting a human face on the families of Naval Academy students. However, she did not claim to be representing all families—this was merely her own observation of her own feelings. The conclusion I got from the article was that she believed that she and her family had mistaken the purpose and content of her brother’s education. She was providing insight for prospective students who might take lightly their commitment to the institution, and therefore, to the United States Army. Clearly, she cannot hate the military so very much if, by her own admission, her brother is happy there.
Furthermore, the criticism directed at Ms. Leppla because she identified herself as a Columbia student is petty. She was using this identification to highlight the similar reactions of her friends and family to these two very different, but prestigious, institutions. It is ironic that her critics are accusing her of generalizing about the Armed Services and negatively portraying the Naval Academy, when they are shamelessly bashing all of Columbia (and, in the case of Columbia students, all of Barnard).
It seems to me that Ms. Leppla had good intentions and that people, when criticizing, should address the content of the article and not attack the author herself, nor should they put words in her mouth.

Judith Estey, BC ’10
Sept. 11, 2007

Article Neglects Burke Library at UTS As a Good Study Space

To the Editor:
I was sorry that your recent article, “Scouting Out a Read with a View of Campus” (Sept. 6), on good library study spaces omitted the Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary. Our library joined Columbia University Libraries three years ago; many at Columbia are not aware that they have access to it or realize that its main reading room (third floor) is a wonderful place to study­­­—a large, inspiringly beautiful space where absolute silence is maintained. The room has wireless access to the Net. Would you consider doing a follow-up article on our library that would include a picture of our main reading room?

Seth Kasten
Sept. 12, 2007

The author is the head of the Reference and Collection Development at the Burke Library

University Irresponsible in Inviting Bangladeshi Leader to Speak

To the Editor:

As a member of the Columbia community, it is very dismaying and shocking that Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, the current autocratic ruler of Bangladesh, has been invited to deliver a speech at the World Leaders Forum.
Ever since his pseudo-military regime took office in Dhaka, rampant human rights violation has become the norm of the state. More recently, systematic and targeted repression of senior faculty members at major universities, top college students, and leading journalists by the military has been unabashedly condoned and hailed by Dr. Ahmed. At this moment, 11 senior faculty member, including three faculty Deans of the University of Dhaka, the largest university in Bangladesh, and an ex Vice Chancellor of the University of Rajshahi, the second largest university in Bangladesh, are behind bars as well dozens of students of different universities across the country. Inhumane torture by the military intelligence agencies on the arrested academics have been widely reported in the international press while the local media has been silenced by blanket censorship that bans criticism of the government.
It would be extremely inappropriate of Columbia to invite such a despotic and oppressive ruler whose primary target of repression are the academics and journalists. As the President of Columbia University as well as a scholar of the first amendment and freedom of speech, I hope you will reconsider the decision to invite Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed to the World Leaders Forum.

Rubab Khan, CC ’08
Sept. 13, 2007