Anti-Semitic Labeling Proves Irresponsible

To the editors:

I was saddened and concerned by President Summers’ remarks concerning the situation in Israel, the attempt by several faculty members to voice an opinion and his apparent perspective that voicing an opinion about divestment is tantamount to a claim of anti-Semitism. I did not sign the petition that many of my friends and colleagues signed. But my absence from this list was not because I felt it was anti-Semitic. My closest friends signed the petition. They are not anti-Semitic. I am a Jew. If I had signed, I wouldn’t be anti-Semitic either. I have close friends in Israel who feel that what is going on is wrong. They are not anti-Semitic either. I would encourage President Summers to rethink his comments and apologize to both those who signed the petition and those who did not.

Marc D. Hauser

Sept. 20, 2002

The writer is a professor of psychology.