[rmlew]

That the New Republic has attacked Columbia for its lack of political diversity is very important. This may be the first time that liberal alumni and parents accross the county are exposed to the realities at Columbia. Moreover, that a major liberal priodical has called Columbia's hiring practices a threat to academic liberty. Bollinger and Abrams can grasp at the first Ammendment (an arguement brilliantly ripped apart in a parody in the NY Sun ) but they are left only in a deadly embrace with the radical left. It is my hope that the Board of Trustees, perhaps with the encouragement of alumni, will step in before this affair damages Columbia.

[Piranha]

I agree with the New Republic that the make-up of the committee is an embarrassment for the university, and that it would be in the best interests of the school for the Board of Trustees to reconstitute the board quickly.

I also am disturbed that the Vice Provost for Diversity (I can only imagine what that means) signed the petition in favor of divestiture from companies selling military hardware to Israel.

Finally, Lisa Anderson has a very diplomatic mien herself, and has bought into the internationalist school of international affairs. Her analysis is that the US has maintained three policies in the Middle East for decades, and she seems comfortable with this approach: stability of the region (rather than human rights, for example); access to oil; and to do no harm to Israel.

Anderson's slam at Daniel Pipes seems to be an endorsement of CAIR's claim that Pipes's criticisms of Islamic extremism are, in fact, a criticism of Islam as a whole, and that this criticism cannot be countenanced.

If she were a US diplomat and I were Secretary of State, I would show her the door.