Author: Andrea Gissing
To the Editor:
This letter is in regards to President Leibowitz's all-campus e-mail "To the Campus Community" which was a short e-mail heavily criticizing The Middlebury Campus' use of a doctored photograph in which Rudolph Giuliani is made to resemble Adolf Hitler.
I am writing not to take issue with the content of the e-mail but rather with the means of dispersal. I see it as a serious misuse of power for the president of our College to send out an all-campus e-mail with the sole purpose of making his personal opinion pop up on the screen the next time each of us check our e-mail. The title of the e-mail gave no hint of its content and in the past, similar "Campus Community" e-mails, which only a handful of people have the clearance to send, have contained important announcements and schedule changes or have sought to address more weighty issues in an all-encompassing and direct manner - as on 9/11 or after the death of a student, staff or faculty member. At such times, making use of this privilege seems fitting and sensible. However, the medium is not meant to provide a soapbox for the hasty airing of personal grievances.
In my opinion, the placement of such a shock-value picture next to Ben Gore's finely written article - which had a much greater subtlety to it than simply equating Giuliani to Hitler - was a poor editorial choice. But that is my opinion; and here it is, in the "Opinions" section, where it belongs -- -not in a campus-blanketing e-mail.
Sincerely,
Chris Ahern '05.5
To the Editor:
Although the caption says, "the numbers speak for themselves," the graph on the front page of the March 17 issue of The Middlebury Campus is misleading. While the comprehensive fee has risen only 28.6 percent since 2000-2001, the relative height of the bars in the graph conveys the impression that it has soared by 3530 percent over this period. A more honest design would begin the y-axis at zero instead of at $32,500.
Sincerely,
Bert Johnson
Assistant Professor of
Political Science
To the Editor:
The most recent issue of The Campus contained a doctored photograph of former Mayor Giuliani resembling Adolf Hitler. The decision of The Campus' editorial staff to include such a photo reflects a gross misunderstanding of history, let alone of Mr. Giuliani's record. It also reflects an unacceptable and embarrassing ignorance of the magnitude of Hitler's crimes against humanity. Our community expects more common knowledge and common wisdom from Middlebury students.
My concern here has nothing to do with free speech. Obviously, our First Amendment rights guarantee great latitude in what publications can print. Our College's newspaper is run by our students, without intervention or restraint from faculty, staff or administrators, and with all of the rights and responsibilities that go along with the opportunity to produce such a publication. And that is exactly my point: having these rights and responsibilities, The Campus' editorial staff should have exhibited greater seriousness and thought - and appreciation of the significance of what they are doing - than they did in last week's issue.
Sincerely,
Ronald D. Liebowitz
President
To the Editor:
The March 10 issue of The Middlebury Campus contains an article on former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who is to address the graduating class of 2005, accurately reporting on the praise that he has received from some quarters during his tenure as mayor. However, you neglected to report on those aspects of his leadership that have been criticized by others. It is not the charge of a news story to take a position on the selection of a commencement speaker. You should, however, accurately portray how diverse sections of the public view this person.
In fact, many community, civil rights and civil liberties groups have disapproved of the tone set by Mayor Giuliani's administration with respect to police conduct. Civilian complaints about excessive use of force rose 41 percent during his term. Several notable cases of police brutality (such as the torture of Abner Louima and the shooting death of Amadou Diallo), have been linked by Mayor Giuliani's critics to his lack of emphasis on police restraint. His determination to "clean up" the city also lead to many small vendors and homeless people being harassed or removed from the streets.
By reporting on both the praise and the criticism that Mayor Giuliani has received you would be doing the readers a service. We could then make up our own minds about the wisdom of selecting him as a commencement speaker. In a world where the government and corporations are now passing along promotional videos as news stories, we need to be especially careful to understand the distinction between promotion and journalism. It is fine for a public affairs office to issue sunny advertisements about events on campus. That is their job. But this is not the work of journalists.
Sincerely,
Ellen Oxfeld
Professor of Anthropology
To the Editor:
If Rudy Giuliani can be likened to Hitler in The Campus, with no factual backup, is there anyone who cannot be? Perhaps Hitler-calling has been so cheapened that we now forget the actual crimes of Hitler and turn his barbarity and the deaths of millions into a convenient figure of speech- a bon mot, a real cleaver gag, a lark. The Campus stoops.
Sincerely,
Brian Perry '95
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