To agree with tis letter is to misunderstand free speech. Bazian has the constitutional right to lable all supporters of Israel's right to exist as racists, to support the violent destruction of the democratic state of israel and it's 6 million citizens, even to say that the sun revolves around the earth (the only astronomical theory that can legally be taught in a Saudi univerisyt.)

What Bazian does not have is a "right" to a Berkely job and salary line.

Berkely has not only the right but the responsibility to choose the best professors. An astronomer who taught the Ptolomaic astronomy that Saudi Arabian sutdents are taught would be a poor choice for the Berkeley Department of Astornomy.

And a man who so misunderstands nationalism as to teach that Zionism equals racism is a poor choice for the Berkeley Department of Islamic Studies.

This has nothing to do with freedom of speech. Just with choosing responsible scholars to staff our public universities.

I think that you are mixing up two issues here, (a) academic freedom and (b) freedom of speech (as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution). If my understanding of Mr. Horovitz's letter is correct, he is using the former, and not the latter, as the basis for his argument.

I am not going to argue here over whether Dr. Bazian is qualified for his position at UC Berkeley. I don't even know what his position is, as the Near Eastern Studies department never replied to the email I sent over a month ago.

I will say, however, that I do believe that the priciple of academic freedom should protect faculty members from being fired for political opinions expressed off of campus. Otherwise, pro-Israel academics will lose their jobs in droves...