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Dear Editor:

I wish to criticize the letter written by ACLU member Mark Schneider in Monday's DAILY EGYPTIAN and raise some broader issues beyond allegations of Back door speech codes and "witch hunt" charges spuriously used by the contemporary descendants of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

If material was genuinely used to stimulate academic enquiry, then charges of violation of academic freedom are justified. But from the evidence presented so far, this appears doubtful. Professor Bean supposedly "abbreviated" the source of a document for reasons of space, and claims ignorance over its actual origins in an ultra-right-wing source known not for historical objectivity but inflammatory racial propaganda. If this is so, then questions may be raised concerning ethical issues of professional competence, making Dean Scott correct in her responsible actions until further investigation determines what the actual facts are. In certain cases, recourse to "normal complaint processes" are both ineffective and too late as those who suffered under the Third Reich and McCarthyism well know. If this circulated document resembles the type of "objective historical evidence" contained in "The Learned Protocols of the Elders of Zion" or Fritz Hippler's 1940 Nazi film "The Eternal Jew," then those unjustly maligned history professors deserve praise rather than blame. In an era when inflammatory racial hatred is rising, Dean Scott's action in a university supposedly promoting racial diversity deserves thanks rather than condemnation by the smug representatives of opportunistic liberalism and their KAPO associates.

I fully support those concerned and sincere history professors for having the courage to raise these issues as a cause for concern directed toward the entire University community as well as the responsible judgment exercised by Dean Scott.

Tony Williams
Department of English