BRATTLEBORO-As an alumnus of Columbia College who participated in the historic 1968 student strike against the university's complicity in the Vietnam war, I'm both deeply troubled and ashamed of my alma mater's abject capitulation to the Trump administration's outrageous demands for direct control of some of its more controversial academic departments and programs, including any involved in Palestinian studies.
This bending of the knee was done, of course, for one simple reason: money - namely, the $400 million the government was threatening to withhold.
What I have yet to hear or read in the liberal media I access (though I could have missed it) is any discussion of the fact that: given Columbia's enormous endowment of $14.8 billion - i.e., nearly $15,000 million - the Board of Trustees had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make an historic stand against tyrannical state power and for academic freedom and integrity.
Sadly - indeed, tragically - to their everlasting shame, they ducked, caved, and opted for the coward's way out.
Richard Evers describes himself as "of Jewish heritage but not of faith or belief." BRATTLEBORO-I'm bound to offend some readers here, but I feel compelled to speak out publicly about a very loaded issue that I wish someone had addressed head-on, but they haven't, so I feel it's up...
BRATTLEBORO-I must be one of scores, if not hundreds, of readers who were truly shocked to read Linda Hecker's essay about her ordeal of harassment, threats, and the downright cruelty she's endured, particularly since, as she notes, the publication of an accusatory essay in The Commons three years ago.
BRATTLEBORO-Recently, a friend and I, each from our own homes, did a half-hour Zoom training to phone bank for Jamal Bowman, the Black Democratic congressman representing lower Westchester county and parts of the Bronx. As many readers know, he's facing a huge challenge in the upcoming Democratic primary there on June 25 from one George Lattimer, an undistinguished, retired former county executive who probably had no thought of running until he was approached by AIPAC [the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee].
Both the ignorance and arrogance of Tim Wessel's cold, completely one-sided, pro-Israeli op-ed are simply breathtaking. Here's one egregious example, particularly of the latter: "I don't believe the [pro-Palestinian] protestors fully understand the politics. I say that many haven't studied the history, and most have been taken in by an advanced, Hamas propaganda machine […]" You "say"? You also say that Hamas started the war. Is that some kind of joke? It's obvious you nothing of the real history of...
Richard Evers describes himself as "of Jewish heritage but not of faith or belief." On Nov. 26, in The New York Times, the headline for the lead story on the front page reads, "Gaza Civilians, Under Israeli Barrage, Are Being Killed at Historic Pace." The article goes on to state that "Israel's liberal use of very large weapons in dense urban areas, including U.S.-made 2,000-pound bombs that can flatten an apartment tower, is surprising, some experts say. "'It's beyond anything...
There has been such an incredible amount of violence, destruction and, yes, murder (as I write, over 8,500 and counting) in Gaza since the Hamas attack - not to mention over the many previous decades - I think one has to be either numb or willfully blind not to be shocked and cry out "No! Not in our name!" the way over 400 arrested protestors, including members of Jewish Voice for Peace, did at Grand Central Station in New York...
I don't know about you, but I'm feeling overwhelmed by the cascade of bleak news this year from around the world. Incomprehensibly huge forest wildfires in Canada (like the ones in California, or Australia a few years back, remember?). Heat waves, droughts, and floods around the world - including, of course, here in Vermont. The relentlessly destructive war in Ukraine, week after terrible week, that shows no signs of ending. Add to that President Joe Biden's stubbornly low approval ratings...