ARTS & IDEAS
An Organization on the Lookout for Patriotic Incorrectness
By EMILY EAKIN
The Rev. Jesse Jackson made the list for remarking to an audience at Harvard Law School that America should "build bridges and relationships, not simply bombs and walls." Joel Beinin, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Stanford University, earned a place on it for his opinion that "If Osama bin Laden is confirmed to be behind the attacks, the United States should bring him before an international tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity." And Wasima Alikhan of the Islamic Academy of Las Vegas was there simply for saying "Ignorance breeds hate."
All three were included on a list of 117 anti-American statements heard on college campuses that was compiled by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a conservative nonprofit group devoted to curbing liberal tendencies in academia. The list, part of a report that was posted on the group's Web site (www.goacta.org/Reports/defciv.pdf) last week, accuses several dozen scholars, students and even a university president of what they call unpatriotic behavior after Sept. 11.
Calling professors "the weak link in America's response to the attack," the report excoriates faculty members for invoking "tolerance and diversity as antidotes to evil" and pointing "accusatory fingers, not at the terrorists, but at America itself."...
<http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/24/arts/24LIST.html> *****
***** <http://www.goacta.org/Reports/defciv.pdf>
Defending Civilization: How Our Universities Are Failing America and What Can Be Done About It
Published by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni
Introduction:
"In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Americans across the country responded with anger, patriotism, and support of military intervention. The polls have been nearly unanimous - 92% in favor of military force even if casualties occur - and citizens have rallied behind the president wholeheartedly.
Not so in academe. Even as many institutions enhanced security and many students exhibited American flags, professors across the country sponsored teach-ins that typically ranged from moral equivocation to explicit condemnations of America.
While America's elected officials from both parties and media commentators from across the spectrum condemned the attacks and followed the President in calling evil by its rightful name, many faculty demurred. Some refused to make judgments. Many invoked tolerance and diversity as antidotes to evil. Some even pointed accusatory fingers, not at the terrorists, but at America itself."
ACTA National Council:
David Riesman, Honorary Chairman; Henry Ford II, Professor of Social Sciences, Emeritus, Harvard University
Lynne V. Cheney, Chairman Emeritus; Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; Former Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities
Richard D. Lamm, Vice Chairman; Director, Center for Public Policy and Contemporary Issues, University of Denver; Former Governor of Colorado (D)
Jerry L. Martin, President, American Council of Trustees and Alumni
Saul Bellow, University Professor, Boston University; Nobel Laureate in Literature
William J. Bennett, Director, Empower America; Former U.S. Secretary of Education
Chester E. Finn, Jr., President, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; Former Assistant Secretary of Education
Georgie Anne Geyer, Syndicated Columnist, Universal Press Syndicate
Irving Kristol, Co-Editor, The Public Interest
Joseph I. Lieberman, US Senator (D-CT)
Philip Merrill, Publisher, The Washingtonian
Martin Peretz, Editor-in-Chief and Chairman, The New Republic
Laurence H. Silberman, US Circuit Judge, US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit
William K. Tell, Jr., Retired Senior Vice President, Texaco, Inc.
Curtin Winsor, Jr., William H. Donner Foundation; Former US Ambassador to Costa Rica
Herman B. Wells (1995-1998) ***** -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Anti-War Organizing in Columbus Covered by the Media: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/media.html>