President Freedman Rambles On

By Steven Menashi and Alexander Wilson | Wednesday, February 18, 1998

In the past week, two incidents have focused campus attention on the issue of anti-Semitism. On February 11th, President Freedman gave an interview to The Los Angeles Times discussing his speech on anti-Semitism at Dartmouth, delivered at the dedication of the Roth Center for Jewish Life. Six days later, the Dartmouth community experienced an act of anti-Semitic vandalism.

A female Jewish student returned to her room that night to find her door defaced with a Star of David and the words, 'Death to you.' The student, who wished to remain anonymous, resides in the River apartments.

In a statement issued on Thursday, February 19th, Dean of the College Lee Pelton wrote, 'Dartmouth College deplores these acts of racism and hate. This behavior is contrary to the College's educational values and its Principle of Community.'

President Freedman, however, has yet to comment on the issue. He did, however, address the issue of anti-Semitism at Dartmouth in The Los Angeles Times interview. According to Freedman, there is a pattern of anti-Semitism on the campus.

'In my time at Dartmouth,' he said, 'we've had enough evidences of anti-Semitism from The [Dartmouth] Review.' Freedman thus reiterated his long-standing belief in The Review's anti-Semitism. This comes in spite of the fact that the Review staff is currently 25 percent Jewish, and that three out of its four top positions are held by Jews.

Unlike Freedman, the victim of Dartmouth's recent bias crime sees no atmosphere of anti-Semitism at the College. 'I don't think [the incident] is a mirror of my experience here,' she said. 'I've always felt very comfortable here.'

Jewish leaders concur with her statement. David Levi, President of Hillel, reports that he has never seen any evidence of anti-Semitism in his years here.

In a joint statement, the Jewish student group wrote, 'We wish to assert our belief that the Dartmouth community is a welcoming and supportive place for Jewish students....[The incident] is not in any way a reflection of the attitudes of the Dartmouth community.'

'I have felt very at home on the Dartmouth campus,' says Hillel Vice-President Douglas Newton, 'I have actually never felt uncomfortable or been treated differently because I'm a Jew here.' President Freedman, Newton continued, 'feels a sharp disdain for the Review....It seems to be a personal vendetta.'

Freedman has frequently used his bully pulpit to address the Review. 'I now see that The Review is dangerously affecting — in fact, poisoning — the intellectual environment of our campus,' Freedman intoned in a 1988 address to the Dartmouth faculty. At that meeting, he called the newspaper's staff 'perversely provocative' and 'irresponsible, mean-spirited, cruel, and ugly.'

He further added that we should 'address each other with civility and respect.' Freedman then suspended Review Editor-in-Chief Christopher Baldwin for six terms, and a number of other staffers for lesser periods, on the charge of 'vexatious oral exchange,' only to have his decision reversed by the New Hampshire State Court.

Two years later, the issue of anti-Semitism at Dartmouth first garnered national attention. A saboteur, unbeknownst to the rest of the staff, inserted a quote from Mein Kampf into the Review's masthead.

Freedman seized the opportunity. 'Appalling bigotry of this kind has no place at the College or in this country,' he proclaimed. Even before an investigation had been conducted, Freedman led a 'Rally Against Hate' on the green.

The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith and the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission both found that the Review was not, and had never been, anti-Semitic.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, L. Gordon Crovitz explained, 'It may simply be that critics of The Review saw their chance and took it without worrying about the details, such as whether The Review might also be a victim. Asked before yesterday's rally if his attitude would be any different if it turns out that the substitute credo was the work of some prankster or saboteur, Mr. Freedman said, 'I just haven't thought about that.' He has not been in contact with Review staffers to hear their suspicions.'

In the aftermath of Freedman's rally, a Jewish Review member, Andrew Baer, a freshman who lost some thirty relatives in the Holocaust, had swastikas painted on his door.

The incident so frightened his parents that they made him resign from The Review and considered withdrawing him from Dartmouth. Freedman never even commented on this incident.

In the LA Times interview, Freedman says 'the Review surely misled people in giving the impression to many that there was an anti-Semitic tone [at Dartmouth].' It would seem, however, that this 'impression' stems far more from Freedman's rhetoric than from any of The Review's actions.

In his inaugural address, Freedman said, 'No one doubts that Dartmouth will thrive upon differences of opinion among those who love it.

'But maintenance of that sense of community that unites Dartmouth College will depend on the civility with which we express those differences and the respect and tolerance that we show for those who hold opposing views.'

In an Op-ed piece published in the October 20, 1990 edition of The New York Times, former Secretary of the Treasury William Simon wrote that 'Mr. Freedman should not be permitted to debase the serious issue of anti-Semitism by using it for political expediency and self-aggrandizement.' Freedman's simultaneous disregard of the Star of David incident and attack on The Review fall consistent with past practice. The Freedman administration has throughout incited conflict with The Review, while allowing substantive issues to fall by the wayside.

As Levi said, 'It's better for them to have a scapegoat.' Hopefully, the current investigation into this deplorable, hateful act will receive the full attention of Freedman and the Dartmouth administration.

Dinesh D'Souza once dubbed Freedman the 'Al Sharpton of Academia.' His response to this new crisis will determine whether he still merits the title.

President Freedman Rambles On

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