Friday, October 5, 2001

CUNY Chancellor, Trustees Denounce Professors Who Criticized U.S. Policy After Attacks By ROBIN WILSON Trustees of the City University of New York have drafted a resolution condemning professors who criticized U.S. foreign policy at a teach-in earlier this week. Matthew Goldstein, the university's chancellor, also issued a statement saying professors had offered "lame excuses" to justify the September 11 terrorist attacks. The professors who were denounced made their statements at a teach-in Tuesday that was organized by the university's faculty and staff union, the Professional Staff Congress. Neither the trustees nor the chancellor attended the teach-in at the City College campus in upper Manhattan, and have based their reactions on articles in the New York Post. The articles quoted Walter Daum, a mathematics lecturer at City College, as telling the 200 people who attended: "The ultimate responsibility lies with the rulers of this country, the capitalist ruling class of this country." The newspaper also quoted Bill Crain, a psychology professor at City College, as saying he wanted "peace, not war," and adding: "Our diplomacy is horrible." Two members of the university's Board of Trustees have drafted a resolution to be considered at the board's October 22 meeting. The draft, a copy of which was made available to The Chronicle, calls the professors' statements "outrageous" and says they have "with their selfish, tasteless, and unjustified conduct, brought shame to the City University of New York." Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld, one of the trustees who drafted the resolution, said it was "self-indulgent" of the professors to express their sentiments just 100 blocks from the scene where thousands lost their lives in the destruction of the World Trade Center. Mr. Wiesenfeld said he feared that the professors had damaged the university's reputation, and although he said he realized that the trustees could not fire the professors, he added: "They have the invitation to take a hike." Mr. Goldstein, the chancellor, said in his statement that it was important not to compromise "the free exchange of ideas." But he said he had "no sympathy for the voices of those who seek to justify or make lame excuses for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with arguments based on ideological or historical circumstances." He added: "There are no excuses for deliberate actions taken to kill innocent people." Mr. Crain, the psychology professor, said the Post had distorted some professors' remarks, including his. He said he had read a poem at the teach-in. "I said U.S. alliances have shifted. We support one person, and then another, but the constant is violence," he said in an interview. "We need to address that and work for peace." Mr. Daum said he had been quoted accurately, but he said he had been trying to explain what may have led to the attacks, not justify them. "In no way am I sympathetic to what was mass murder," he said. Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, said there is a difference between studying the attacks and excusing them. She noted that the union itself had passed a resolution before the teach-in, condemning the attacks. The union's resolution also calls for CUNY to be "a safe harbor for people and ideas." Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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