To the Editor:
I find it very strange that our campus daily has not printed a word about the well-publicized debate I had with Victor Davis Hanson over the question "Is pre-emptive war in order to promote a free society justified?" This is obviously a question of greatest importance in the wake of President Bush's second inaugural address when the war in Iraq and war talk about Iran and Korea is again all over the media. The Dartmouth Review was instrumental in organizing this debate, but it was not a partisan event. It had among its sponsors both the College Democrats and College Republicans.
Moreover, the debate was a big event worthy of coverage by your newspaper. It drew a standing room only audience made up mostly of students to the auditorium in 105 Dartmouth Hall. And as all who attended will surely agree, the debate was a serious and civil discussion of a very contentious issue. Indeed, it is the purpose of the principal funder of the event, the Rupe Foundation, to demonstrate to students on campuses across the country that there is a real alternative to the kind of shouting matches they see on cable TV. That Dartmouth was chosen as one of the first sites in this three-year-long series of "Cicero's Forum" debates was in itself a newsworthy story.
You really missed the ball on this one. And really, I hope it wasn't because of some prejudice you have against The Dartmouth Review because this event was a model demonstration of what the right to free speech is all about.
