OCCASIONAL ERRORS

To the Editors of the Crimson:

In spite of occasional errors and misquotations and putting things out of context in some of your interviews. I try each day to read the Crimson. I find this the most important single step that I can take to keep abreast of what is happening at Harvard.

I was most pleased yesterday to see that for the first time in a long long time someone took the time to state in a dignified and rational way some of the matters concerning the department. I refer, of course, to your THIRD PAGE and "counterpoint." Now I could nitpick about the placement of Professor Turner's article, but that would be senseless.

Today I was appalled to notice the depths to which those who would malign Blacks will stoop. I refer to the forged anti-racism letters which as Tim Bilodeau, a defensive back on the football team, said. "I think it was just someone who wants to make trouble." We have been confronted with similar situations, and it was ill-conceived for the Review Committee to solicit anonymous comments about our department.

I also read today the letter of Professor of Law Derrick A. Bell in which he stated, "the magnetic attraction of power, prestige, and profit, of justifying a nation's racial conduct, which is no less unjustifiable because stated in academic terms, remains irresistible." This could well be said about the racist attitudes on anything that Blacks do here at Harvard, including the establishment of the Afro-American Studies Department. Professor Bell's comment applies to Blacks as well as Whites.

Professor Bell further states. "Rational response is wasted here." Most of the time I agree with this. However, as he states right after that, "And yet continued silence is impossible."

In this my first letter to the Crimson, let me again congratulate you in spite of obvious shortcomings. Ewart Guinier   Professor and Chairman   Afro-American Department