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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (46383)	9/23/2002 12:42:25 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Summers has a history of inflammatory statements going way back and it's not unusual for newly installed university presidents to not yet realize all their statements are read as presidential even though they think of themselves as just talking as another faculty member or as a private citizen. That is one view. The other thing is that things have go so bad with the Politicalization of Academia that a President of Harvard feels compelled to speak out, even when he knows it is going to give him problems. I just read some comments on Summers little problem. Here is a short version of what he said, and the reaction to it. You will notice the immediate "ad Hominine," "McCarthyism," response. Summers hits 'anti-Semitic' actions by Patrick Healy Boston Globe September 20, 2002 >>>>Harvard University president Lawrence H. Summers this week entered the nationwide campus debate about Israel and the Palestinians, using unusually personal language to criticize some Harvard professors and students for recent actions that he says are "anti-Semitic in their effect, if not their intent." Summers, who holds perhaps the most visible bully pulpit in American intellectual life, told an audience at Harvard's Memorial Church Tuesday that recent calls for Harvard, Tufts, Princeton, and other schools to divest from Israel were anti-Semitic. He also cited student groups at Harvard and elsewhere that sought to raise money for Arab organizations linked with terrorists - meeting with "at least modest success and very little criticism" - as well as antiglobalization rallies where protesters denounced Israel and compared its current prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to Adolf Hitler. "Profoundly anti-Israel views are increasingly finding support in progressive intellectual communities," said Summers, who said he was speaking as "a concerned member of our community" and not as president. "Serious and thoughtful people are advocating and taking actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect, if not their intent."<<<<< >>>>On campuses, critics of Israel fend off a label By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff, 9/21/2002 When Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nancy Kanwisher helped launch a spring petition calling on Harvard and MIT to cut their financial ties to Israel, she saw it as a political protest against Israel's alleged violation of Palestinians' human rights. But in the months since she helped gather signatures on the two campuses, her effort has become the target of a much larger counterpetition - and, this week, a high-profile denunciation by Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers, who declared her group's actions ''anti-Semitic in effect, if not intent.'' After his stinging speech, divestment was once again in the spotlight, as students and faculty debated yesterday whether it is possible to protest Israel without evoking the grim legacy of anti-Semitism. ''Harvard prides itself on academic freedom, but the question of punishment against Israel is tricky and divisive for people,'' said Rohit Chopra, a junior who chairs the student affairs committee of the Undergraduate Council. ''It's so super-sensitive because Israel is a home or a second home spiritually to so many people. So it's hard to criticize Israel delicately and avoid a tough label like anti-Semitism.'' Kanwisher was direct in her reaction. Summers ''should be ashamed of himself,'' she said, ''casting these McCarthy-esque insinuations about our motives.'' Summers declined to comment yesterday. But some Harvard professors who have asked him about his speech said Summers assured them he was not personally labeling the signers of the petition as anti-Semitic.<<<<< boston.com

To: JohnM who wrote (46383)	9/23/2002 12:52:25 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

don't know this book or this author so it could be hate speech wrapped in reasonable questions or simply reasonable questions. I think he fits the definition of "Christian Conservative," but not a nut. From my reading the last year, I think the questions are reasonable. I think we are asking for real trouble letting all of these Islamic students in, but it will not be debated unless we have another major attack that involves some of them. >>> Robert Spencer is an adjunct fellow of the Free Congress Foundation and a Board member of the Christian-Islamic Forum. His articles on Islam and a wide variety of other topics have appeared in "Human Events," CNSNews.com, National Review Online, "Chronicles," and "Crisis." He has studied Islam for over twenty years.<<<<

To: JohnM who wrote (46383)	9/23/2002 10:51:11 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

But the problem is that it gives credence to the argument that criticisms of Sharon's policies are anti-Semitic. Who gave most credence to that idea, Summers, or the "anti-Zionist" protesters who carry signs saying "Zionism=Nazism" and pictures of dead Palestinian babies labeled "killed according to Jewish rites"? Sometime you reap what you sow.

To: JohnM who wrote (46383)	9/24/2002 8:26:10 PM
From: frankw1900	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Summers has a history of inflammatory statements going way back and it's not unusual for newly installed university presidents to not yet realize all their statements are read as presidential even though they think of themselves as just talking as another faculty member or as a private citizen. But the problem is that it gives credence to the argument that criticisms of Sharon's policies are anti-Semitic. Bad climate right now. I'll say it's a bad climate. Now the leader of a great university isn't supposed to have a position? Not only is he not supposed to have a position, but he's not supposed to have a position on what his university does. The petitioners are demanding the university take a specifically anti-Israel position. Summers isn't supposed to have a position on that? Are you saying the president of a university isn't supposed to enter into a debate? Or only not into this debate? Is he supposed to stand for nothing? Even if Summers were wrong in his argument ('anti-semitic in effect if not intent') - I don't think he is - I'd still applaud him. He is the leader in his community and he's leading when he tells the members what he stands for. Summers used exactly the right forum (intra-university, attended by students and faculty) to tell his community what he stands for. In a short speech, argued with clarity and rigour, he reached conclusions unacceptable to some. Well, gosh, how about that! He's a leader of a place which is supposed to put a premium on intellectual life and he's taking his responsibilities seriously. Admirable isn't it?