http://tinyurl.com/8e21 <URL: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,82532,00.html > Columbia Prof Calls for Deaths of American Troops Friday, March 28, 2003
An academic furor was brewing Friday over a Columbia University professor who told thousands of students and faculty that he would like to see the United States defeated in Iraq and suffer "a million Mogadishus" -- referring to the 1993 ambush in Somalia that killed 18 Americans. The professor, Nicholas De Genova, told a "teach-in" on Wednesday that "the only true heroes are those who find ways that help defeat the U.S. military." De Genova also asserted Americans who call themselves "patriots" are white supremacists. De Genova's hopes for the defeat of the United States were cheered by the crowd of 3,000, according to newspaper reports. But his mention of the Somali ambush -- "I personally would like to see a million Mogadishus" -- was largely met with silence. A call Friday to De Genova, 35, was answered with a recording that said his voice mailbox was full. Columbia University on Friday issued a statement that distanced the school from his comments but did not condemn them. "Assistant Professor Nicholas De Genova was speaking as an individual at a teach-in. He was exercising his right to free speech. His statement does not in any way represent the views of Columbia University." History professor Eric Foner, who helped organize the teach-in and spoke after De Genova, said Friday: "I disagreed strongly and I said so. If I had known what he was going to say I would have been reluctant to have him speak." Foner said De Genova was a last-minute invitee, was just one of about 25 speakers and "did not represent the general tone of the event, which was highly educational." "I thought that was completely uncalled for," Foner was quoted as saying, referring to De Genova's allusion to the Mogadishu ambush and firefight, known for the graphic image of a slain American soldier being dragged through the streets. "We do not desire the deaths of American soldiers." De Genova’s particular expertise on the subject of the war in Iraq is not clear. His dissertation, entitled "Working the Boundaries, Making the Difference: Race and Space in Mexican Chicago," explores "socio-cultural processes "implicated in the mutually constitutive productions of racialized difference and urban space in the experiences of Mexican migrant factory workers in Chicago," according to a Stanford University Web site. "De Genova’s research posits a Mexican Chicago as a standpoint of critique from which to interrogate the U.S. nation-state, political economy, racialized citizenship, and immigration law," said the site. -- Michael Pugliese
"Without knowing that we knew nothing, we went on talking without listening to
each other. Sometimes we flattered and praised each other, understanding that
we would be flattered and praised in return. Other times we abused and shouted
at each other, as if we were in a madhouse." -Tolstoy