Issue:
Columbia University
is hosting a program
this Thursday,
February 10th,
from 10-12, with
guest speaker Tom
Paulin.
Paulin, who has regularly declared that Israel has no right to exist, and recently resigned from Britain's ruling Labour party on the grounds that Tony Blair was heading a "Zionist government," is no doubt entitled to his opinion. What is in question is not Paulin’s right to spout hatred, support for suicide bombers, and anti-Semitism, but the judgment of the Columbia faculty that invites such a man to campus. (if you are interested in attending, please contact Janet Lehr janetlehr@mindspring.com)
Action:
Please
write to Columbia’s
administrators
questioning the
University’s
judgment in giving a
podium this February
10, to a man who
said on April 2002,
in an interview to
the Egyptian weekly
Al-Ahram that
"Brooklyn-born"
settlers in the
occupied territories
"should be shot
dead." "I think they
are Nazis, racists.
I feel nothing but
hatred for them,"
Paulin said, adding:
"I never believed
that Israel had the
right to exist at
all." He then
added: "I can
understand how
suicide bombers
feel. . . . I think
attacks on civilians
in fact boost
morale."
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear President Bollinger,
I am writing to suggest that the faculty at Columbia learn to exercise a modicum of judgment when inviting speakers to campus. In the eyes of the world, an invitation to speak at Columbia conveys the attestation of the Columbia faculty that speaker has wisdom to offer.
What, then, are we to make of an invitation from the Heyman Center to an infamous anti-Semite like Tom Paulin, a man who has said that Jews living in ancient Judea should be “shot dead,” that he, “can understand how suicide bombers feel. . . . I think attacks on civilians in fact boost morale,” and that all Jews living in the disputed territories “are Nazis, racists, I feel nothing but hatred for them."
It is difficult to fathom what can have motivated the Columbia faculty to invite such a man to speak on campus.
Sincerely yours,
Your Name
Address
Phone Number
Lee C. Bollinger,
President
Columbia University
2960 Broadway
New York, NY
10027-6902
212-854-9970
212-826-9973 (fax)
bollinger@columbia.edu
Columbia alumni
should write to:
Derek Wittner
Dean of Alumni
Affairs and
Development,
Columbia University
Phone: 212-870-2741
Mail: Interchurch
Center
Room 917, Mail Code
7732
Columbia College
New York, NY 10027
daw8@columbia.edu