Your article regarding anti-Semitism at Brooklyn College is missing certain facts (“CUNY Probing Anti-Semitism Charges At Brooklyn College,” April 13). For starters, names of many faculty members were misspelled.
In the case of my promotion, the appointments committee of my department and the School of Business unanimously approved it. At the college-wide level the promotion was approved but not unanimously. The president then denied my promotion. When she denied the promotion she had not yet seen my personnel file. Therefore one should wonder as to her true reasons for denying the promotion.
The recent search for a new member of the accounting faculty was aborted after the search was concluded. The Office of Diversity was involved at several stages before and during the search. It was only after the appointments committee selected an Orthodox Jew to fill the position did they find a technical reason to dissolve the search.
The reason given, I was told, was that one of the finalists had not yet completed his doctoral studies. The Office of Diversity knew about his situation at the beginning. Also, it is not uncommon, in academia, for doctoral students to be offered positions that are conditional on their completion of the degree. Again one should wonder what the real reasons are for dissolving the search.
Professor Hershey Friedman is depicted in your article as a complainer and someone who does not get along with other faculty members. Nothing is further from the truth. Friedman has always been a champion of students and faculty. He works long and hard hours to make sure that the School of Business is a place where both faculty and students can learn and grow. He spends countless hours mentoring junior faculty members so they may become successful at Brooklyn College. He spends untold amounts of energy keeping the curriculum current and supervising student internships. It is insulting that you published one very biased view of Friedman. If you polled the entire faculty of the School of Business you would find overwhelming support for him.
