Editor,
I went to hear the talk by Gil Hoffman, political analyst for the Jerusalem Post, when he spoke at UNM last week. I was surprised when I found out the talk was co-sponsored by the Peace Studies Program, along with the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federation. It was a great talk and Q&A session.
The Peace Studies Program is normally a political and partisan program and anti-Israel from what I’ve seen, and so I haven’t taken their program very seriously. How can a department teach peace and bigotry simultaneously?
When Peace Studies co-sponsored the Ziad Abbas talk the week before, this reinforced that impression, and I didn’t expect to see a UNM department, especially the Peace Studies Program, give a fair hearing to the Israeli side of the Arab/Israeli dispute.
However, by bringing Gil Hoffman to speak and providing an open forum for an Israeli representative to give Israel’s side of the story, Peace Studies showed that it can educate and not just indoctrinate. They gave us a rare example of academic freedom and intellectual honesty.
I hope to see this is a continuing trend and not just a fluke.
Lynn Provencio
UNM student
