Letters to the Editor: October 28

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Political bias and self-enrichment on campus
Sidney Chernick’s response (Letters, “Colleges don’t collectively ‘brainwash,’ ” Oct 14) to a highly fictionalized version of my letter of Sept. 30 does more to prove my original points than refute them. Teaching about climate change and the evils of slavery is a duty of colleges? Nope, nothing political to see here, especially in how they preach — I mean, teach — these types of subjects. Apparently, it is neither the duty (nor the priority) of colleges to produce graduates capable of earning wages that would allow them to pay for the exorbitant cost of that college degree. Otherwise, why the need to forgive the voluntary debt of millions of college students? Likewise, if there were no political bias or indoctrination on college campuses, why isn’t the political left (who is now in power) holding colleges accountable for better outcomes and asking them to fund their debt-forgiveness program? Instead, colleges get to continue their self-enrichment while the rest of us are being forced to support them.

SONNY TARAGIN
Baltimore

Mideast studies and the BDS movement
Sidney Chernick is clearly uninformed about the extent to which the Arab world has financed American universities to establish departments of Mideast studies (Letters, “Colleges don’t collectively ‘brainwash,’ ” Oct. 14). Recently, members of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), which represents professors teaching the subject, voted to support the BDS movement. This means that Mideast studies is taught by professors who have agreed to boycott and isolate Israel. How could it be possible for a Mideast-study curriculum to be objective if professors are prejudiced against one of the major players? How can anyone say that a demonized Israel is not part of the systematic brainwashing of students and teachers?

LARRY SHAPIRO
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Hamas the bigger threat to Israeli security
Although it is foolish and dangerous for anyone to wish for a two-state solution any time in the near future, it is even more foolish and dangerous for the Yair Lapid-led government not to see that a Hamas takeover in the West Bank, rather than a Benjamin Netanyahu-led victory in Israel, is the bigger threat to long-term Israeli security (Editorial, Sept. 16, “The Catch-22 of the West Bank”). The United States and Israeli governments should therefore provide as much economic and non-military aid to the Palestinian Authority and its citizens in the West Bank as it can.

To sum up, it is most foolish and dangerous for the Israeli government, as well as all supporters of Israel, to believe that a goal to achieve solutions that just might enable future generations of Israelis and Palestinians to live in a world of reduced violence should never be considered.

BARRY DWORK
Alexandria, Va.

Letters should be related to articles that have run in the print or online editions of the JT, and may be edited for space and clarity prior to publication. Please include your first and last name, as well your town/neighborhood of residence. Send letters to [email protected] or Baltimore Jewish Times, 9200 Rumsey Road, Suite 215, Columbia, MD 21045, or submit them online at jewishtimes.com/letters-to-the-editor.

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