Few things could bring the president of the College Conservatives and the membership director of the College Democrats together in concord. But major issues—those which transcend party and ideology—do, in fact, make strange bedfellows. We write today to voice strident opposition to one Norman Finkelstein, an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-America Holocaust revisionist and terrorist sympathizer.

Let it be known that as representatives of free speech, we do not wish to censor him. His asinine comments are sure to embarrass and humiliate far beyond our capacity to do so. Rather, we seek to inform the Columbia community of this blatant hate-mongering.

A Facebook page, organized by those bringing Finkelstein to Columbia, was a self-described “invisible group.” “Make sure,” it read, “not to invite anyone who might tip those opposed to Finky. He’s pretty controversial.” That, by any standard, is an understatement. The comments have since been removed; screenshots, however, last.

Those who assume that Finkelstein is just another “controversial” speaker, one of many in Columbia’s recent past, fail to grasp the absurdity that is Finkelstein. Taking a job at DePaul University after being fired by New York University for his ludicrous and factually inaccurate book, The Holocaust Industry, this “scholar” makes his living off of absurd statements that garner comfortable speaking engagements. At a recent speech delivered at Yale University, Finkelstein equated the Jewish concern over Holocaust denial with a “level of mental hysteria.” Clearly, we must first question his very “professorship.” Anyone who so blatantly disregards facts and vehemently supports the murder of innocent children is worthy neither of academia nor of the title of professor...

Eric Knibbs appears not to know the difference between having an opinion and actively doing evil ("Students' ideologies should not play role in admissions decisions," 2/28).

Hashemi did not merely hold the "view" that the "ideology" of the Taliban was praiseworthy. He was a highly placed official in one of the vilest regimes of the twentieth century. The Taliban, for those who have forgotten the horror of it, not only supported al Qaida, it beheaded Afghans for such "crimes" as apostasy and teaching females.

In America, we do not "police political orthodoxy" by beheading people for apostasy. The question is whether admission to Yale is the proper reward for an individual who enabled such a government by serving it as second foreign secretary.