It is often difficult to predict which articles in the Bulletin will bring the most letters. Sometimes, stories that we expect to bring a strong response—such as the March 2001 article about the future of the Crum Woods—do not. Others that we think are innocuous or routine occasionally surprise us.

This reaction is certainly the case with the unusual volume and vehemence of the letters about a one-page profile about Roger Heacock ’62 that appeared in the last issue. (Readers of “Professor in Palestine” will remember that Heacock teaches history at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah, a town most recently in the news as the besieged headquarters of Yasir Arafat. The article is also available at www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/mar02/heacock.html.)

Letter writers not only attacked Heacock’s pro-Palestinian politics but also asserted that the Bulletin should not have presented his views in the first place—or that this article was another piece of evidence of anti-Jewish bias on the part of the editors. We deny such bias and disagree with the suggestion that the work and ideas of certain alumni should not be featured in these pages. This would be contrary to the purposes of this magazine—which include the free exchange of ideas, even those we do not agree with—and to the tradition of academic inquiry at the College.

In their rich and varied lives, Swarthmore alumni follow a variety of paths, work for numerous causes, and express a wide range of ideas. One role of the Bulletin is to present as broad a cross section of those interesting lives as possible in order to show how a liberal arts education can take people to unusual and interesting places—both physically and intellectually. Roger Heacock, a committed Quaker pacifist living in a war zone and supporting an unpopular cause, seemed to be a perfect example.

Not every reader of the Bulletin will agree with Heacock’s positions—or his use of language—about the disputed land where he lives. Heacock’s “solidarity” with the Palestinians, some of whom have engaged in acts of terror against Israel, is abhorrent to many. Yet, as free nations make war on terrorism, we must be careful to judge ideas and actions separately, countering the former with arguments of our own and judging the latter according to standards of law and civilized conduct. The Bulletin is a vehicle for ideas and, as such, must remain as open a forum as possible—a place, like Swarthmore College itself, where free expression, open debate, and respect for individual conscience are core values.

—Jeffrey Lott