To the Editor:

I’d like to thank you for Tuesday’s picture of the Cross Campus memorial vigil for the Oct. 22 suicide bombing in Israel — especially because it is the only thing that is left of the memorial. When the emotional vigil finished at around 8:45 p.m., many students had concerns about leaving the memorial unattended overnight. The memorial consisted of a bulletin board with the names and biographies of the victims, as well as a copy of the Associated Press report on the incident. In the end, the group decided that such an apolitical and inoffensive display would be safe, and leaving it there was important to remembering the deceased.

As I walked down Wall Street to my morning class, I eagerly awaited catching a passing glimpse of the display. But it wasn’t there. The board had been cast off to a corner of Cross Campus, with the faces of the victims having been ripped off and thrown away. The stand was nowhere to be found, as were the Yartzeit candles, a sacred Jewish tradition in remembering the dead.

Political activism is one thing. But impinging on free speech and destruction of personal property is unacceptable. I encourage people who have strong opinions to express them in a mature and constructive manner.

This is not about politics — this is about human decency.

Zvika Krieger ’06

October 23, 2002