Re: Letters to the Editor/Brown Teach-in (Oct. 10/Sept. 26) 2

As we are all too aware, there have been many recent anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents, events and demonstrations on college campuses across this nation and in Europe.

It is happening closer to home. Brown University has held several recent events that have been stacked (by speaker, panelists, issues, line of questioning) to present a strong pro-Palestinian point of view.

One such event was the “teach-in” panel on the Gaza War. reported on by Marty Cooper (Sept. 26) and commented on by Nina Tannenwald (Oct. 10).

The main issue that seemed to bother Ms.Tannenwald was the one moment of “disruptive behavior” by an “older couple” whom she specifically notes as being Jewish. Perhaps they reacted out of sheer frustration to the panel’s extremely skewed presentation.

As a reprimand for their supposedly “disruptive behavior,” at a second follow-up event featuring as the only speaker the PLO Ambassador to the U.S., who gave a very smooth and practiced presentation with inaccurate information about Israel, no one from the community was allowed to ask a question or make a comment on what was said. For the most part, the students seemed passive and accepting of what was presented and offered no real challenging questions. One of the co-sponsors of this event was Brown RISD Hillel.

If silencing the voices of interested, mature adults from the community who have knowledge, background and history is Ms. Tannenwald’s version of free speech, then she has a lot to learn despite her academic credentials.

Judi Dill

Providence, R.I.