July 3, 2002: Letters
PAW
Letter Box Online
PAW
has expanded its Web site to include a feature called Letter Box, where
many more letters than can fit in the print magazine are published. Please
go to
Letter Box to read and respond.
PAW welcomes letters. We may edit them for length,
accuracy, clarity, and civility.
Our address: Princeton Alumni Weekly, 194 Nassau St., Suite 38, Princeton,
NJ 08542
paw@princeton.edu
As a former student of Cornel West *80, I celebrate his return to Princeton. He cotaught our student-initiated seminar on liberation theology in a way that affirmed us as scholars in our own right, and challenged us to meet high standards in critical thinking and social analysis. He is one of the rare (at Princeton, anyway) professors who concerns himself with the total development of students and with the betterment of the campus community.
I will never forget walking into class the evening of the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and finding not just a classroom but a community, where we reflected, analyzed, emoted, and responded to each other in a dialogue where not everyone agreed, but everyone was respected. More than a voice for social justice, West encourages students to develop their own voices.
West’s CD, which some have cited as evidence of “thin academic credentials” —I wonder if the people making those assertions have actually read his work — is in my mind evidence of his integrity. I credit him with finding a way to connect theory with practice, to augment the messages of liberation in his writings by making them accessible through the heart and soul as well as the mind. Making one’s ideas more universally accessible is consistent with — and I would say essential to — social critiques related to racial and class injustices.
Donna Riley ’93
Northampton, Mass.
Regarding Professor West’s well-publicized description of Harvard’s President Lawrence Summers as “the Ariel Sharon of higher education”: As many people know, Ariel Sharon is notorious (among other things) for his conduct at the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut in September 1982. According to estimates by the Israel Defense Forces, between 700 and 800 civilians were slaughtered by militias sent into the camps by Mr. Sharon.
Has President Summers done anything comparable at Harvard? If so, what?
Irfan Khawaja ’91
Princeton, N.J.
As a non-legacy Princetonian and a surgeon who treats people with brain tumors every day, I was shocked and dismayed to read R. J. Innerfield ’67’s letter-poem entitled “West Collegeioma” (Letters, May 15). By equating the rejection of his daughter from Princeton with a tumor growing in West College, he not only betrays his venomous and egotistical bitterness, but also his ignorance about tumor genetics. Contrary to what the author implies, the diversity generated by the incorporation of “foreign genes” is the ultimate foundation of natural selection and the strength of the species. The stagnation of the gene pool by inbreeding, far from “being the glue that’s shaped our destinies,” actually heightens the susceptibility to cancer.
The strength of our university is derived from the talent, character, and diversity of its students. Admission by merit is the only way to assure its continual growth.
“West Collegeioma” is but an egregious error in diagnosis by a rambling poet. The university should continue to rebuff nepotism and inbreeding, while embracing intelligence, character, skill, talent, and diversity to bolster its health.
Walter C. Jean ’89
Washington, D.C.
R. J. Innerfield ’67’s association of “foreign genes” and “unnatural selection” on “our left” with his daughter’s inability to gain admission to one of the most selective schools in the world is a tragic illustration of how personal misfortune, thoughtlessly redirected, can spawn and fuel xenophobic, extreme-right bigotry. But perhaps that is consistent with his idea of an inbred Princeton.
Ben Waterhouse ’00
Paris, France
I’m sure R. J. Innerfield’s poetic lament for his daughter’s unsuccessful application to the Class of ’06 is shared by many alumni whose children have received the same letter. I have two daughters who received the same treatment, forced to receive educations at Brown and Northwestern because they couldn’t make the Princeton admissions cut as legacies. The rejections angered me and changed my attitude toward Princeton, but certainly didn’t ruin my daughters’ lives. Both were admitted to highly selective institutions through processes in which neither had a legacy advantage; they had thoroughly fulfilling academic, extracurricular, and social experiences; and they broadened our family’s exposure to the world of higher education and, in one case, real college football.
Perhaps these phenomena are more benign than we alumni realize. They protect our kids from the risks of educational inbreeding.
Richard Hokin ’62
Darien, Conn.
The April 10 PAW reported small rallies protesting U.S. support of Israel in its attempt to stop Palestinian terror. The facts don’t justify such protests. Unfortunately, the Palestinian leaders rejected agreements by which they would rule independently over 95 percent of the territory that was occupied when Jordan attacked Israel in 1967. Instead of continuing to negotiate, they deliberately turned to lethal violence against civilians.
The Israeli people do not want to be sitting ducks. Their government, like NATO in Yugoslavia and the U.S. in Afghanistan, has believed that force could stop terror; but it cannot do so without diplomacy and dialogue. I belong to an organization of 1,200 former colonels and generals that is part of a movement to get a million signatures (in a population of six million) for withdrawal from nearly all of the occupied territory, with or without an agreement, but unless the Palestinian leaders stop the attacks, there is little chance that a threatened public will back such a move. The Palestinians should by all means have their own independent state and enjoy economic growth and democratic citizenship. They can only achieve these aims through peace, not war. The Israelis don’t want to fight them or to rule over them, but to live in peace without fear.
Daniel Shimshoni ’41
Herglia, Israel
Though I always enjoy reading PAW, I was particularly pleased to see Kathryn Federici Greenwood’s piece on the Chapel’s restoration in the March 13, 2002, issue.
As the partner in charge of that project, I can attest to the exceptional work done by the Masonry Preservation Group and Femenella and Associates. I’d also like to point out that three of the five partners of the architectural firm in charge of that project, Ford Farewell Mills and Gatsch, are Princeton alumni: Jeremiah Ford ’54 *59, Michael Farewell *78, and I.
It was an honor to work on such a significant commission, and we were delighted to have the opportunity to lead the restoration effort.
Michael J. Mills ’73
Princeton, N.J.
All those clubs look alike . . .
The cats in the April 24 From the Archives picture are without doubt procrastinating at Dial Lodge, and the cat in the right foreground has to be Tip Larkin ’53. The year must have been 1952 or ’53.
Bob Frye ’53
Denver, Colo.
I couldn’t tell you who these students are, but I do know the where. The picture was taken at the Tiger Inn, in the first-floor lounge now known as the Red Room.
Chris Beha ’02
Princeton, N.J.
The young man in the single chair on the left could well be my late husband, John E. Irby III ’71, at Tower Club, where he was a member (and where it’s my understanding that he spent more time at Ping-Pong and other recreational activities than at reading).
While I’m not certain that it is John, it makes me chuckle to be reminded of those “crew-cut” days, which yielded after his sophomore year to much longer locks.
Christine Irby Williams
Chesterfield, Mo.
The memorial for Bob Peters ’42 (April 24) stated that the Class of 1942 football team was the only one in Princeton history to beat Yale all four years. The ’42 Tigers were, of course, the first class to do so, not the only one.
