Barnard has responded to Phyllis Chesler's piece, The Brownshirts of Our Time, in which Chesler describes the heckling she endured at a Women's forum at Barnard College.

Not surprisingly, the muddled heads at the Barnard Administration have chosen to lay the fault for what happened at the feet of both sides. While defending Barnard's desire to maintain an environment where speech can flourish, Penny Van Amburg, Director of Development Communications (of all things), confuses the issue by making it clear that speech will be protected as long as it is speech according to Van Amburg's standards, otherwise one has only one's self to blame for being shouted down.

One may disagree with Chesler's statements without elevating them to the same level of wrongdoing that those practicing the verbal (and near physical) violence against Chesler committed, yet that is exactly what Van Amburg does. Viewed in this light, her letter is illuminating concerning College Administrator's responsibility to know when it's time to get involved to protect speech, and when it's time to butt-out. One begins to understand why David Horowitz's Academic Bill of Rights is so important.

Phyllis Chesler vs. Barnard College, Round II