January 12, 2003

To the Editor:

Dear Editors,

As a former student of Brooklyn College ('02), a recipient of a Mellon Fellowship currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Yale University, I was appalled by Provost Roberta Matthews’s statement to this newspaper on January 9th, 2003 boasting of the institution’s “outstanding academic culture” and its “encouragement of individual thought and personal development.” While Provost Matthews rightly proclaims the quality of education at Brooklyn College and the caliber of its students and faculty, she failed to directly address Ms. Rabinowitz’s contention (“Battle of Brooklyn") that Brooklyn College is on the path of losing its academic integrity over the issue of KC Johnson’s tenure.

If Brooklyn College truly had a liberal academic culture, Professor KC Johnson would not have been offered in sacrifice in the History Department for voicing his opinion over what should have been a simple hiring process. Provost Matthews and the Brooklyn College administration would do a better job at defending the future integrity of that institution if they responsibly and impartially reviewed Professor KC Johnson’s application for tenure, and awarded him that promotion based on his outstanding performance as a professor and a scholar instead of on some ambiguous claim of collegiality.

Martine Jean

New Haven, CT.