To the editors of the Trinity Tripod:
As a Trinity alum and current user of the alumni audit program, I’ve been spending time on campus the past several semesters. Having read of the astounding anti-Semitic and anti-Israel behavior and violence on other campuses, I took the liberty of posting a handful of 8.5” x 11” signs reminding the college community about the Israeli civilians who were kidnapped amid the savage attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
I was shocked and profoundly disappointed to find that nearly all of the signs were torn down or defaced – including those posted in Mather Hall and in Hamlin Hall among faculty offices. On a campus in which every conceivable message of inclusion and diversity is proudly posted throughout the grounds, the posters I put up – of children whose parents had been slaughtered and who had then been kidnapped by barbarians of the lowest order – were torn down.
In light of the college president’s email regarding the Israel/Hamas war, in which she drew no ethical or moral distinction between the barbarism committed by Hamas and the internationally recognized right of a country to defend itself against barbarous assault, this sort of hateful, ignorant behavior among some people within the Trinity community shouldn’t be totally surprising. It is, however, disappointing to see my alma mater in such an ethically lost state.
Andrew Lieberman (BA, Economics 1984)
Andrew- you as a man in his 60s should not be trying to start conflicts with college kids. You are not part of the current Trinity community and this is not appropriate behavior for an adult.
Absolutely shameful behavior Andrew. Let the kids be kids. Stop tone policing – it’s embarrassing for you.
Tearing down posters of kidnapped civilians is letting ‘kids be kids’? In what world. And before you ask why they’re up: to raise awareness. Haven’t seen too many other posters trying to raise awareness for hostages get torn down.
Tragically, too many students are terrorists’ dream–not so much for the Taliban, al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, etc in the short term, but for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and their Iranian funders. The people of Iran are among the staunchest supporters of the people of Israel, because they know their regime funds terror against Israel with the money that should be going to the Iranian people. They know what it is like to live under the cruel rule of Islamic supremacism that is also inflicted on the Palestinian people, almost as harshly as it’s inflicted on the Iranian people. Meanwhile, the Palestinians of Gaza suffer under oppressive Hamas rule and the wrath of war they’ve inflicted on the region. When no one wants to “free Palestine” more than Khamenei, a miscreant who has tormented those he rules over, then genuine human rights advocates would be wise in instigating this paradox of being on the same side as one of the cruelest dictators alive. Until they do, they are just going to continue to embolden some really bad people to harm vulnerable communities.
*investigating (not instigating)