ing Stone, Village Voice.” Nothing, innshort, that would be difEcult or demanding,nnothing with solid informationnas opposed to opinion.nConservatives frequently complainnthat they are shut out of America’snnewspapers by “liberal media bias.”nThe Pugwash report makes it clear thatn”Style” editors are not ideologues, butnairheads, biased against anyone whondoesn’t have a press agent. The reasonnJeremy Rifkin is profiled in The WashingtonnPost and Robert Nisbet isn’t isndue, not to political bias, but to JeremynRifkin’s publicists.nLiberals and corporate drones alsondominate daily newspaper feature sectionsnfor another reason. Most risingnyoung conservative journalists are notninterested in culture or even news. Thennumber of conservative journalists undernthe age of 3 5 who do not work asneditorial writers can be counted on thenfingers of one hand. In a world interestednonly in a battle of opinions, notnideas, the most serious casualties includenthe responsible press and a votingnpublic that is being fed PR in thenguise of news.n—Martin Morse WoosternLAURIE A. RECHT, a legal secretarynin New York, received encomiumsnfrom the press and various and sundrynothers for endorsing the court-orderednplan for integrated housing in Yonkersnlast year. In fact, when Ms. Recht wasnthe only speaker in favor of the integrationnproposal at an open hearing, arguingnthat the City Council in defyingnthe court order “was doing somethingnillegal, immoral, and unethical,” shenwas informally nominated by the medianas the champion of compliance andngood sense in what was otherwise anvitriolic and divisive argument.nAfter her triumphant speech Ms.nRecht claimed she was harassed byncrank callers who left nasty messagesnon her answering machine and bynsomeone who sprayed a swastika onnthe wall outside the apartment of hernYonkers residence. In addition, shenclaimed to have received death threatsnby mail after speaking in favor of thenscattered-site low income housing projectnin the predominantly white neighborhoodnof East Yonkers. She describednthese acts against her asn”cowardly” conduct “by insecure peo­n8/CHRONICLESnple who don’t have to guts to discussnthe issue or face me.”nFor her outspokenness and couragenin the face of threats and for being “thenlone voice of reason,” according to anNew York newspaper, Ms. Recht wasngranted an Honorary Doctor of HumanenLetters from the College of NewnRochelle last May 29. At the commencementnSister Dorothy Ann Kelly,npresident of the college, said this incidentnin Yonkers recalled Pope JohnnXXIII saying that people who addressninequities are “far too few in number,nyet they are deserving of the highestnrecognition from society.” Ms. Rechtnwas given a standing ovation fromnfaculty members and students.nAfter the degree was conferred, anpolice investigation uncovered the culpritnbehind Ms. Recht’s harassment:nMs. Recht. The police report indicatednthat she sent herself the death threats,nrecorded the crank calls, and probablynpainted the swastika in her hallway. Itnwas also argued that Ms. Recht’s testimonynat the open hearing was designednfor self-aggrandizement.nIf that was Ms. Recht’s goal, shencertainly achieved it. However, the realnquestion that emerges from this incidentnis why the College of New Rochellenreacted with such haste to confernan honorary degree. The most sensiblenanswer is that the college was eager tonuse an honor as a way of making anhighly political judgment.nOne could say the Recht case has itsnanalogue in the Joyce Brown (AKAnBillie Boggs) case. After winning hernsuit against New York City for illegalndetainment as a public nuisance.nBrown was invited to speak at HarvardnUniversity. Ms. Brown was not givennan honorary degree, but she was honorednby faculty members and studentsnand she was offered a forum for hernviews that included television coverage.nTwo months after this appearance atnHarvard, Ms. Brown was arrested fornselling drugs and was subsequentlynapprehended for harassing passersbynon the street.nIf any condition exemplifies the ideologicalnardor on campus, it is the urgento honor those whose views fall neatlyninto the institutional catechism. And ifnever one needed a justification forncynicism about what transpires at ourncampuses, here it is.n—Herbert I. LondonnnnA LOT OF AMERICANS are worriednabout the way universities arenteaching our children. During the secondnweekend of November 1988,nequally concerned members of thenNational Association of Scholars gatherednat the old Roosevelt Hotel in NewnYork City.nThere are clearly quite a few articulate,nthoughtful scholars in our collegesnand universities on whom presidentsnand regents can call to provide thenleadership that is needed to take us outnof our current morass. No one whonheard young historian Alan Kors (Pittsburgh)ntell of his stand against campusnradicals will doubt that strong leadershipncan help a school begin the slow,ngradual return to high academic standards.nNo one who heard JeanenKirkpatrick (Georgetown) tell of thensuppression of free speech on campusesnwill doubt the need. But do presidentsnand regents care?nOne does. The speech John Silber,npresident of Boston University, gavenwas a revelation. Silber told us clearlynand forcefully why the humanities, innthe broadest sense, are at the heart ofnany curriculum worthy of the name.nHe paused to explain how even anpoem as simple and touching asnMilton’s sonnet on his late wife wasnincomprehensible to someone who didnnot know Greek myth and Greek literature.nHe reminded us that a liberalneducation in the literature and valuesnof our society is a debt we owe ournchildren. An academic leader who possessesneloquence, wisdom, and passionnis a rara avis. Silber can be justifiablyncompared to Daniel Coit Oilman,nWilliam Rainey Harper, or other mennwho created the great American universities.nIf the squabbling in today’s universitiesnis a free-for-all between liberals andnradicals about who is going to get tonpropagandize our children, the ultimatenvictory is of little concern to thenaverage American, not to mention thenputative nonexistent academic conservative.nThe debate ought to be over thenintroduction of adequate objectivenstandards of academic expertise fornboth teaching and research. I am notnsure what the proper standards for thensocial sciences should be, but in thenhumanities they should include commandnof relevant foreign languages,npublication in refereed presses andn