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■v * * feedback • * Complain in force To the Editor: . f fij» •A#' V V s ? September 17 letter to the editor concerning Physic’s Professor Beth. In theSpring of 1976, Dr. • Beth began teaching the second semester of the year long Physics 113-114 course I was taking. Or. Day had satisfactorily taught the first half of the , _ course and all students had anticipated having Or. Day for the second semester. In the first weeks of the Spring semester, students bitterly complained about Dr. Beth’s teaching incompetence to the Physics Department, to the University Administration and to The Spectrum. Dr. Beth was soon replaced by Dr. Day as the course instructor. I feel obliged to respond to Ray Bergan's At the time, It was widely rumored that political motives were behind the department chairman's decision to put Dr. Beth in charge of a course he was obviously not prepared to teach. Soon after Dr. Day moved up in the Physic Department administration. Some physics graduate students defended Dr. Beth and explained that he was quite good with graduate level courses. Unfortunately, I don’t Know the full story. For those of you now taking 107 with Dr. Beth, I suggest Immediately complaining in force to the department and administration. The physics department should Know better by now. I Invite anyone to respond who can acurrately explain the intradepartmental politics behind these teaching assignments. Marlon Russel Koenlgsberg Graduate Student Unofficial icotion To the Editor In reference to Professor Molefl Asante’s remarks published in The Spectrum (Sept. 7, 1979), I wish to state that while Professor Assante has a right to his own personal opinion about the Andrew Young affair (and any other matter), his anti-semItic and racist views do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Communication. Since Professor Asante identified himself as a “professor of communication,” I wish to disassociate our department from his views. Sincerely, Diggs on Goetz Gerald M. Qoldhaber Chairman To the Editor: conscious and contrived than I would like to believe. Perhaps he painted the first article as “seething with hate” In hopes of Invalidating the substantive conclusions and relationships that Oreyfuss draws. This serves tp lead the reader to believe that If he'agrees with any of the points made in the article It is because he is “seething with hate\ and anti-Semitic. I would not encourage anyone to be anti-anybody for racial, ethnic or sexual reasons. A truly broad-minded person keeps a close monitor on his own feelings to make sure such attitudes don’t slip in. unnoticed and unneutrallzed. Goetz tries to include himself in this group in the eye of the reader by adding .that, he supports black rule In black Africa but he fails to comment on the continued oppression of blacks In this country; he falls to comment on the persisting roadblocks to blacks holding- any modicum of power reflecting their disproportionately large unrewarded contribution to the affluence and emminence of the United States. This Is a noteworthy ommlssion In the light of the contents of the article upon which he comments. I ask that the reader read again the article 'by . Joel Dreyfuss appearing in The Spectrum on September 12.1 believe that an open mind will not find the article to be attacking or anti-anything, but an evaluation which some of you may find to fit the political scene of today. I ask, also, that you read Tomas Goetz’s response of September 14. Therein < believe you will find the central error that many people who believe the recent press ’hype’ make. They fail to recognize that black America is not verbally attacking Jewish people but U.S. foreign policy supporting suppression of Palestinian rights, that is, those very same rights for which Israel has fought. Now, even ithe U.S. is realizing that that cannot be right. The style with which Tomas Goetz chose to write his article reveals something about the article on which he comments and something about his own feelings on those issues, probably more than he would like to have publicly known. Joel Dreyfuss wrote a probing, honest, and searching analysis that helps to explain why the thrust of black and Jewish political actions have taken two different and sometimes conflicting directions. Goetz responded with a bitter letter of biting sarcasm. He used a rhetorical style which has proven effective in some instances but he errs ia -adamantly refusing to comment on the specific cases presented by Joel Dreyfuss. The rhetoric he uses falsely characterizes the issues and points in the first article without dealing substantively with the article’s analysis. Only once does he border on responding to Dreyfuss' observations but that is confounded by an internal contradiction in his argument. I refer to the paragraph wherein Goetz attempts to justify actions by Jewish organizations (B’nai B’rith and Israel) and then boasts that many Jews opose those actions, which seems to indicate that Goetz himself finds those actions untenable. Further, Goetz makes unfounded charges of anti-Semitism and hate as being the substance of the Dreyfuss article. Why would Tomas Goetz choose sarcastic rhetoric rather than a genuine rebuttal to the arguments presented? Could it be that the hate he sees is that which he projects? Perhaps Dreyfuss’ presentation rang too true for Goetz to admit to himself that they could have some value and correctness without being hateful or anti-Semitic. The simple fact of not being in ‘the best interest’ of some segment of the Jewish community is not enough to categofize an idea as being Anti-Semitic. . I fear that Goetz’s actions were more John R. Diggs, Jr.
