To the Editor:

We are writing to join the expressions of dismay and anger at the recent events here at Yale. Amongst other things, the Yale Daily News has reported that students’ rooms have been broken into, a student has been followed and spat at after a protest, permitted symbols of protest have been ripped down, and threatening and offensive notes have been posted to doors. It is clear that these are no longer isolated incidents, but are now systemic and have produced a climate of fear amongst students who oppose the war. It is the moral and intellectual duty of all of us who hold the purpose and function of the university dear to make it clear we will not stand for this and to support the administration’s public statement of its abhorrence of such actions, and of its determination to enforce its policies to the utmost rigor. Those policies are meant to protect free speech and free thought and are meaningless unless used and seen to be used. We urge the administration to continue to make its position as explicit and as public as possible. We believe this is a defining moment for the University.

Jean-Christophe Agnew, Nigel Alderman, Elizabeth Alexander, Dudley Andrew, Arjun Appadurai, Jennifer Bair, Bernard Bate, Seyla Benhabib, Carol Breckenridge, Peter Brooks, David Bromwich, William Broun, Donald M. Brown, Francesca Cadel, Alicia Schmidt Camacho, Carol Carpenter, Geetanjali Singh Chanda, Katerina Clark, Bill Deresiewicz, Wai Chee Dimock, Michael Dove, John Mack Faragher, Seth Fein, Ilana Gershon, Mokhtar Ghambou, Matthew Giancarlo, Glenda Gilmore, David Graeber, Dimitri Gutas, John Halle, Frank Hole, Jonathan Holloway, Margaret Homans, Amy Hungerford, Matthew Jacobson, Rahel Jaeggi, Gil Joseph, James Kearney, Ben Kiernan, Laura King, Jennifer Klein, David Krasner, Vera M. Kutzinski, Farid Laroussi, Pericles Lewis, John Mackay, Anupama Mande, Lawrence Manley, Stefanie Markovits, Dale Martin, Richard Maxwell, John Merriman, David Montgomery, Alondra Nelson, Matthew Nelson, Annabel Patterson, Diana Paulin, Linda Peterson, Stephen Pitti, Jean-Jacques Poucel, Julia Prest, Mazin Qumsiyeh, Shilpa Raval, Linda-Anne Rebhun, Chris Rhomberg, Catherine Rockwood, Harold W. Scheffler, Francoise Schneider, James Scott, Jan Simpson, Frank Snowden, Margaret Spillane, Michele Stepto, Robert Stepto, Frederick Streets, Michael Trask, Katie Trumpener, Eileen Walsh, Vron Ware, David Watts, Harvey Weiss, Laura Wexler, Eric Worby, Guoneng Zhong

April 13, 2003