Nobility begrimed
Last week Stephen Hui, national bureau chief of CUP, the wire service for Canadian campus newspapers, wrote a major story about my $10 million grievance against York University, initiated in response to the York administration’s defamation of me as a bigot and anti-Semite. Hui’s story was run prominently in campus newspapers across the country, including The Varsity, the Peak at SFU, and the McGill Daily. Not a word of it appeared, however, in the Excalibur, ironically the campus newspaper of the university in question. The decision not to run it was made by News Editor Alicia Libman, presumably in consultation with Editor-in-Chief Sean Palter.
This is not an isolated instance of questionable Excalibur practice. For those students in communication and media studies who are looking for a low-budget thesis topic, I suggest an inquiry into the recent history of the Excalibur, as a case study in the ideological manipulation of the news and the manufacture of media careerists.
David I. Noble
Professor, York University
Talk blocker
I was disappointed to see a select group of students from the Arab Student Collective, who attended Monday’s formal debate at Hart House on “Terrorism as the biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East,” turn their chairs around and their backs away when guest speaker Alan Baker took the podium. Baker, the Israeli ambassador to Canada, who has been involved in many peace processes and negotiations with Palestinians and other groups, most recently at the Sharm el-Sheikh conference three weeks ago, took the podium. Much to the surprise of many who attended, a form of protest that was very disrespectful to the speaker took place.
What exactly did this protest mean, and what exactly are they turning their backs on? This gesture, of turning away, displayed something so anti-Canadian and so counter-productive, especially at a university. The fact is, Baker is not a war criminal, he is a peace negotiator, and this display of immaturity showed their unwillingness to listen to an individual, simply based on the fact that he represents a differing point of view. I believe it shows that they are turning their backs on something much larger: the peace process itself.
Steven Kraft
