To the Editor:

I write this because I am troubled by recent news. I recently found out that Amiri Baraka has been invited to speak at the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale. While I have no desire to have Baraka silenced, I do not believe he belongs at Yale University.

Baraka has a right to speak and express himself — but as students, administrators, and faculty we have a right — a duty — to denounce him for what he is: a misguided, venomous bigot. He may speak — but he should not be invited to speak here. A university — but particularly an establishment like Yale — should promote understanding, unity, and education, not hatred, anti-Semitism, misogyny, misinformation, and disharmony.

I hope those who invited Baraka have the moral decency and intellectual integrity to issue an apology.Anything less would be a tarnish on Yale’s outstanding reputation, and an affront to all of us.

Martin Shuster DIV’04

February 20, 2003