To the Editor: In response to inquiries from both students and faculty, I feel the need to provide some background to one of the anecdotes in “Columbia Unbecoming” (“MEALAC Movie Premiers for 400,” Nov. 4). According to one of the students in the film, an Israeli professor at MEALAC said she was reluctant to leave her office to use the copy machine for fear of retribution from professors who are anti-Israel. The subject of this anecdote was a visiting professor who taught at MEALAC for one semester. I and several other Israelis have been teaching in MEALAC’s Hebrew division for many years. In spite of the political tensions that surround the department, our MEALAC colleagues (all of whom are fully aware of our pro-Israel positions) have always treated us with cordial respect, and we have never felt intimidated by them. This being said, I would like to express my serious concern regarding the direction our department as a whole has taken in the past few years. Thus I add my voice to those who are calling upon the administration to pay close attention to the complaints aired in the video.

Ruth Raphaeli November 17, 2004 Columbia Spectator

(Editor’s Note: Professor Raphaeli is a charter member of SPME)