Educators should push for academic freedom

I wish to respond to "In Search of Bias" (July 11 editorial) in which the Post-Gazette claims that rooting out political intolerance in academia is "best left to real educators," an intended slap at H.R. 177 and our Academic Bill of Rights which inspired the legislation.

Real educators have created the current anarchy in which biology professors at Penn State University show political propaganda films to their biology students. Policy HR 64 in the Penn State Policy Manual says very clearly: "No faculty member may claim as a right the privilege of discussing in the classroom controversial topics outside his/her own field of study. The faculty member is normally bound not to take advantage of his/her position by introducing into the classroom provocative discussions of irrelevant subjects not within the field of his/her study."

If defending the academic freedom of students is best left to real educators, why haven't they done something about this?

The American Council on Education in conjunction with 27 higher education organizations issued a statement last month affirming the core principles of the Academic Bill of Rights and of state Rep. Gibson Armstrong's House Bill H.R. 177.

If the editorial board of the PG is serious about academic freedom, it will write another editorial urging Penn State University administrators to contact the legislative sponsors of this bill and offer to enforce its provisions. This was done successfully in Colorado, where legislators withdrew their academic freedom bill when the administrators of the state higher education system signed a memorandum of understanding to precisely that end.

In the absence of such an agreement, it would be foolish of the Pennsylvania Legislature to leave to these educators a task they should have performed in the first place, and didn't.

DAVID HOROWITZ
Chairman
Students for Academic Freedom

SARA DOGAN
National Campus Director
Students for Academic Freedom
Washington, D.C.

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They're not rational

Columnist and military historian Gwynne Dyer left out certain very important historical details in "They're Only Terrorists" (July 10 Forum).

Mr. Dyer's statement regarding the bombing of London during World War II as being organized by those who "wanted Britain out of the Second World War" was only half accurate. The final piece to the puzzle was the fact the Germans wanted Britain out of the war so the Germans could continue their plan of world domination and the imposition of a master race. The German extermination of the Jewish race, in their Final Solution was in stark contradiction to British values and their way of life.

Mr. Dyer's comment "Nasty things, bombs, but those who send them your way are usually rational people with rational goals, and they almost never care about your values or your way of life" is absolutely absurd. If I interpret it correctly, he is referring to terrorists as rational people with rational goals. The beheading on TV of civilian contractors is less than rational.

Finally, Mr. Dyer's comment that another terrorist attack on a U.S. city might lead the United States to invade another unsuspecting country was flippant. Not only did Iraq and Afghanistan know they were going to be invaded, but also they knew why. They could have chosen paths to prevent the invasions from being necessary for the security of the world.

MATTHEW DiGIACOMO
Moon

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Get rid of Rove

As the facts in the exposure of CIA officer Valerie Plame come to light, the right-wing attack-and-distract machine is in full throttle. Ironically, these are precisely the tactics that got Karl Rove in hot water to begin with.

Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, simply published a commentary that Rove and others in the Bush administration didn't like. Rather than dispute the message, Rove chose to smear the messenger. This is politics of personal destruction at its finest.

I am also curious about the substance of Rove's allegation. Even had Plame personally chosen Wilson for the mission, what did it matter? It wasn't a junket to Hawaii for crying out loud. It was a job for which Wilson, a former diplomat in Niger, was uniquely qualified.

I do not know whether or not Rove has committed a criminal offense. About the kindest possible interpretation of events is that his petty and vindictive actions were a result of his inability to refute the substance of Wilson's statements, and the exposure of Plame occurred as a result of Rove's gross negligence in failing to check her status before revealing her identity. That is hardly the sort of adviser we need at the president's elbow in time of war.

DAVID LAWRENCE
Bloomfield

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Don't single us out

I am currently a junior at West Virginia University and have just read the lovely article about us on July 10 ("Residents Are Urging WVU to Sober Up"). Yes, all the things in the article do go on. There are places for freshmen to go and drink and there are crazy parties. But people need to realize that this goes on everywhere.

Only because of our party image does West Virginia University reap the disrespect we get as an accredited university. People should know that good things do go on in Morgantown, not just a lot of partying. I have some very bright teachers who have given me a lot of inspiration and guidance. There are many campus groups that work with the community to make Morgantown a better place to live. And without the students, Morgantown would not be in the process of becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the state.

If Morgantown were such a bad party place, then why did President Bush visit here on the Fourth of July and say how big a fan he is of the Mountaineers?

I guarantee that if the Post-Gazette sent an investigative reporter to universities like Penn State and Pitt, it would find the same drunken girl stumbling down the street because she lost her friends.

And as far as younger kids drinking, that also happens everywhere. I am from a small suburb of Pittsburgh, and I know a lot of young kids who drank as early as eighth grade. I understand that it interests people to read about partying college students, but why doesn't the PG pick on someone else for a change?

BREANNE ALIOTO
Morgantown, W.Va.

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Litter cleanup bugs

I know everything Brian O'Neill said about garbage in his July 7 column ("When Pigs Fly, Watch for the Falling Trash") is true, but check this out:

I witnessed sort of the opposite outside of Heinz Field on the Fourth of July.

I got a great parking space in Gold Lot 1A right across from Gate B at Heinz Field. But after the fireworks it was the worst place to be parked. I was stuck there.

So instead of burning a whole tank of gas (I brought my '73 Coupe DeVille Caddy that only gets six miles per gallon), I sat on the hood of my car and watched the traffic barely crawl by for over an hour.

I witnessed at least 10 people get out of their vehicles, as they waited in traffic, come over to the lot and deposit their cans and bottles into the garbage bags left behind by tailgaters. I was really surprised -- usually people see trash on the ground and just add to it.

But these people made the extra effort to put their trash in the garbage bags.

I really love reading Brian O'Neill's stories -- the subjects and his writing style.

MARIA CASTELLANO
Brookline

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Stop hounding our president while he is fighting a war

In response to Dan Simpson's column "No Comparison, by George!" (July 6), I would like to say that I have recently read David McCullough's book "1776." Yes, George Washington was a hero, he did fight under adverse circumstances, and he was lucky in many instances. But to criticize President Bush by saying that he takes "offense at personal disloyalty to him" is unfair.

Given the present attitude of the mainstream media to the war, I don't believe that their negative reporting influences President Bush when he makes decisions related to the war.

Think of where this country would be if George Washington had been pressured by the media at the end of 1776 or even in the spring of 1781, when the British had just about conquered most of the Southern states before the luck of Washington turned at Yorktown.

Or where would we be if Abraham Lincoln had been hounded by reporters in May 1863, two months before the Battle of Gettysburg, when the Northern armies stood defeated once again by Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville?

Would we even have won World War II if media had been reporting about the terrible losses at Pearl Harbor and the terrible months that followed before the tide turned at Midway?

This war against terrorism, as President Bush has repeatedly told us since Sept. 11, 2001, will be long, hard, frustrating and at times deadly. This enemy won't listen to us. They want to kill us. This war may be longer than any of us ever dreamed of. The attacks on London should be a reminder of what and who we are up against.

I think we should give our president the support he deserves. His job is difficult. He doesn't need our criticism. He needs our support -- and our prayers.

FORREST MOORE III.
Scottdale