"To the Editor:
Re "Intimidation at Columbia" (editorial, April 7):
The essence of a university lies in not sanctioning professors or students for the content of their ideas - even when some find them offensive. Universities permit radical ideas because they demand rigorous proof before accepting ideas as facts.
Columbia does not operate in the way you describe. Individual departments do not have the "power to appoint and promote faculty," and therefore cannot have that power "wrested away" from them. The tenure review process is carefully designed to exclude a candidate's department from wielding any power over the final tenure decisions.
A close reading of the faculty committee's report would suggest that assertions against Joseph Massad, a professor in the Middle Eastern studies department, have not been proved and that sharp disagreement exists among students about whether the incidents in question even took place.....