Speaker’s views not hateful
Re: Speaker’s views hateful (Oct. 23)

As an organizer for the Norman Finkelstein event put together by SAC, and as a Jewish student on campus I find Michael Goldfarb’s accusations that Mr. Finkelstein trivializes the Holocaust purposefully misleading.
Firstly, Norman Finkelstein is the son of two Holocaust survivors and lost family and friends because of the violence of the Nazis in Germany. Since his youth he has been a sympathizer of the Palestinian cause, disgusted by the illegal occupation of territories by Israel and the terror and humiliation inflicted against Palestinians on a daily basis. In his most controversial book, The Holocaust Industry, which Mr. Goldfarb’s misrepresents in one of his quotes, Finkelstein is critical that the Holocaust and the memory of his parents has been exploited to bolster the political support of Israel. He does NOT belittle the historical event that affected his childhood so much.

Alex Kerner
Former SAC President, 2001-2002

Trent vents
Re: Editorial: Flawed report no reason to be smug (Oct. 23)

I came across your editorial referring to the recent Globe and Mail report on post-secondary education, and I felt compelled to respond.

I am a student at Trent University. I agree that the survey was flawed. I do, however, take exception to your comments regarding Trent. You suggested that it is laughable that the report favoured Trent while U of T ranked near the bottom. What your editorial doesn’t take into account is that comparing the two universities is impossible.

While U of T has an excellent research and graduate studies portfolio, Trent’s strength is its small environment. While U of T ranks near the top for technology and library holdings, Trent will always rank near the top for professors who are experts in their field AND are superb and committed teachers. This is one of the reasons why Maclean’s loves us, too. As students from different universities, we need to stand together to challenge the assumptions of all reports and surveys that refuse to recognize and applaud the diversity within the post-secondary education sector.

In my opinion, your editorial missed the most important point of all-the same forces that are decreasing the quality of education at U of T are hurting Trent as well. We’re fighting the same tuition increases, crumbling infrastructure, and indifferent administrators in Peterborough as you are fighting in Toronto. In this climate, none of us can afford to be smug. As all of our institutions fall prey to the homogenizing and corporatizing force that is mutilating our universities, it is important that we stand together to fight for quality post-secondary education-instead of slagging each other in our respective campus newspapers.

Marisa Barnhart