In the days and weeks immediately following September 11th, Hamilton joined with the world community in denouncing the terrorist acts of that tragic morning. We all share deeply in the pain of the families who lost loved ones. Many people view Ward Churchill's comments concerning 9/11 as repugnant and disparaging the 3,000 people killed that day, including three Hamilton alumni and the father of a current Hamilton student.

Hamilton, like any institution committed to the free exchange of ideas, invites to its campus people of diverse opinions, often controversial. The opportunity to encounter and respond to people from outside the college community in their intensity and their immediacy is among the key attributes of a liberal education. The views of speakers are their own. We expect, as a matter of civil discourse, that the members of this academic community, as well as visitors, respect the dignity of reasoned and principled debate. It is in this setting that the substance and credibility of a speaker's views are established as being worthy of support, or not.

We expect that many of those who strongly disagree with Mr. Churchill's comments will attend his talk and make their views known. This is the process of both academic freedom and freedom of speech.

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