.| Office of the Chancellor Boston University 147 Bay State Road Boston, Massachusetts 02215 |
| Open letter from Dr. John Silber to Colleges and Universities |
| I write to bring to your attention libels that have appeared recently in
college and university papers concerning Boston University professor Elie
Wiesel. These have taken the form of advertisements placed by the Committee for
Open Debate on the Holocaust (CODOH) and its director. Bradley R. Smith. Just as surely as a student newspaper would be reluctant to run an advertisement in favor of the flat earth theory and no university would hire a professor who advocated the flat earth theory, anyone who cares about the truth is under an obligation to think twice before offering a platform to those who systematically lie by denying the Holocaust. Those lies are at the heart of the advertisement submitted by Mr. Smith. The advertisement begins by misunderstanding the idea of the university. It is not merely to promote intellectual freedom, but also to promote intellectual responsibility in the pursuit of truth. It is contrary to the ideal of the university to promote deliberate lies. It is also contrary to the propose of the university to participate in libeling individuals |
Mr. Smith's libel of Elie Wiesel is multiple. |
