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I was deeply saddened to read several letters in the Ithacan and the Ithaca Journal criticizing politics professor Asma Barlas’s article. It is my belief that colleges and universities exist to expose students to diverse ideas. It is their obligation to broaden knowledge; to encourage young people to engage in critical thinking skills; to inspire them to question and challenge the status quo; and to help them search for the truth and reach for the higher ground. It is their duty to offer students the freedom in which to openly debate.

Debate is not possible where only one view is expressed. Students need to be exposed to all facts, all sides, all opinions, all interpretations. To quote General Patton, "If everyone is thinking the same, no one is thinking."

As a parent and former teacher, I believe that education is about educating. It is about teaching people to think open-mindedly and objectively. I feel our educational institutions do not exist to simply keep young minds on ice, preserving them in a comfortable womb of ignorance. Education is not about producing a future generation of compliant lemmings made victims of indoctrination. I would never have become a teacher if I’d felt that our educational system exists to placate. Education is about kindling growth.

And what is patriotism? Does anyone really think that is unpatriotic to ask whether some of our foreign policies are causing unexpected and undesirable consequences for others and ourselves? On the contrary, isn’t it unpatriotic not to continually debate and evaluate the policies and activities of our government that cause severe repercussions in the lives of people around the world, people whom we would like to have and need as friends? In the words of James A. Joseph, former chair of the Council on Foundations and U.S. ambassador to South Africa, "True patriotism is successful competition with one’s own ancestors."

Professor Barlas was simply exercising her right to speak and her professional responsibility to ask questions about the wisdom of our adherence to certain foreign policies. I expect Patrick Henry and his colleagues would be proud to be counted among her democratic ancestors.

Adelaide Park Gomer
Ithaca, New York