War and the Universities

Retired General Michael Sullivan, a Marine Corps aviator, has sent several angry messages about our universities, the latest about a heated argument between a Vietnam War veteran who had been tortured, and a group of Idaho University protestors, led by a professor, who invaded the restaurant of the hotel where he was staying. Usually General Sullivan's anger is directed against elite universities like Harvard (and Stanford) where the ROTC has been abolished; I believe there is still an ROTC at Idaho University. His anger is justified, but it should not be assumed that the protestors represent a majority of students or faculty. They love publicity, but they may be only a small minority on campus. It is one thing to criticize US foreign policy, but it is quite another to grossly misrepresent facts.

This is a tragedy for our universities. As director of Stanford's Bolivar House, I promoted informed, courteous dialog. Now some of the leftists who enjoyed this privilege no longer deal with me because I do not accept the kind of behavior against which General Sullivan protests. Note that I am sure our world is in for profound changes. Embittered by defeat, President Hoover was grossly insulted by such people, and as a result the Hoover Institution became a bastion of the right. Campus opinion was radicalized, and rational discourse suffered.

The problem is still there. The Stanford Daily (10/19/01) has a front-page article headlined "Speaker to address police brutality for National Day of Protest". Police risk their lives every day to protest the public, and this is their reward. The accounts of police brutality are scarcely credible and such incidents certainly unusual. The alleged beating of a black by police triggered the riots which wrecked the Los Angeles district of Watts. The black had a criminal record and has been arrested several times since. It is clear that any incident is used by agents provocateurs to cause such riots. This at a time when the US, indeed most of the world, is fighting terrorism.

Ronald Hilton - 10/20/01