Hamilton College Alumni for Governance Reform

Date: 3/4/05 at 4:10PM 

here is my letter.  feel free to post.................... .................... 

Jan. 31, 2004

Dear Ms Joan Hinde-Stewart

I was very disappointed to learn about the latest controversy regarding Ward Churchill.

As you by now are quite aware many of us lost friends and acquaintances on September 11 so this issue is especially sensitive.  I have read your letter to the Hamilton community posted on the College's web-site and your response is inadequate.  It lacks rigor to simply wrap oneself in the 1st Amendment.  This is not a "free" speech issue, it is a "paid" speech issue. If Mr. Churchill is willing to pay his own airfare and visit the College to spew his hate in the middle of the Quad without remuneration he is free to do so.   For the College or any arm's length organization to pay him to do so is recklessly irresponsible.  His views are the worst kind of moral relativism and should not be tolerated in any intellectual forum.

My four years at Hamilton were the defining experience of my life. I stopped supporting the College during the Tobin era, but when Mr. Tobin was forced to leave I took the opportunity to start a new.  Your credentials were excellent and it was my personal decision to give you every benefit of the doubt in all issues including the Rosenberg controversy. The latest debacle has taught me that my support was premature.   I would like my 2004/2005 annual fund contribution returned to me,  I will not contribute to the latest capital campaign and I will not be attending my 20th Reunion in June.

Please understand that I do not take this action lightly.  In fact, it pains me to take this action against an institution I adore, but it is the only way that I can express the depth of my feelings and hope that my voice will be heard.

Sincerely
 

William Pratt '85