The card says 'respect'

To the Editor:

I write to object to Dave Oppenheim's use of thuggish rhetoric in his column "I'll take the physical challenge" [YH 2/26/99]. Misunderstandings of, or even differences over, academic matters are not clarified by commentaries with titles that imply a need for confrontation in which a request is made for a "Colt 45." I do not find Mr. Oppenheim's appeal that the "madness" in my course "must stop" to be merely an amusing exercise of bad judgment when it is linked to a reference to a gun. No matter how hyperbolic or impotent the threat, the language of physical force undermines the trust that allows for an honest and critical discussion between members of the University.

In addition, disparaging graduate teaching assistants as "goose-stepping" tarnishes what should be a relation of healthy mutual regard between undergraduates and TAs. Graduate teaching assistants and professors are not entitled, any more than undergraduates are, to anyone's praise, but if the activity of learning is to flourish in our community we owe each other mutual respect.

Mr. Oppenheim is welcome during office hours to discuss any academic matter of concern to him, so long as he conducts himself as a member of the University.

—Joseph Soares, Assistant Professor of Sociology

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