Students For Academic Freedom

Letter from David Horowitz to the NY Times · 28 March 2005

To the editor:

In Karen Arenson's recent article (Columbia Chief Tackles Dispute Over Professors, 03/24) Columbia President Lee Bollinger is quoted opposing my Academic Bill of Rights on the grounds it would require selective hiring of professors based on their political views and mandate a "balanced curriculum."

President Bollinger is misinformed. The Academic Bill of Rights explicitly forbids preferential treatment of faculty based on their political, religious, or intellectual views. It does not call for "balance" in the curriculum (which would amount to the establishment of quotas for certain views) but for "intellectual diversity" defined as making students aware of the "spectrum of significant scholarly viewpoints." These are ideas that Bollinger says he supports. He should acknowledge that they are our ideas as well.

Sincerely,
David Horowitz
Chairman
Students for Academic Freedom

 

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