NYPost

ONCE-PROUD CAMPUS A BREEDING GROUND FOR IDIOTS

By ANDREA PEYSER

October 3, 2001 -- SO this is what passes for academic freedom these days.

If you visited City College at lunchtime yesterday, you would have heard professors explaining that the murder of 6,000 innocents at the World Trade Center was payback for:

A. The American ruling class's attempts to squash non Judeo-Christian culture.

B. Colonialist oppression of people of color.

C. The capitalistic zeal to divide and conquer the workers of the world.

The fuzzy-headed academics must have eaten a few too many magic mushrooms.

In a forum attended by about 200 students, dubiously titled "Threats of War, Challenges to Peace," the unprovoked attack on the trade center was repeatedly referred to as "the incident." The terrorists were fondly described as "freedom fighters."

CCNY was previously known as the taxpayer-funded platform for the anti-Semitic ravings of Professor Leonard Jeffries. Now, the once-proud institution has evolved into a breeding ground for academics who are too blind, stupid or intellectually dishonest to tell the difference between the divisive war in Vietnam and the coming war against terrorism that's uniting Americans.

The peacefest kicked off with Professor Marina Fernando, who charged that as a result of America's promise to wipe out Osama bin Laden, "We have already created a human tragedy of monumental proportions" for Afghan refugees.

"This is because of the blood lust that follows the Sept. 11 tragedy," charged Fernando, director of CCNY's International Studies Program.

If you want to see blood lust, professor, get off your rump and travel south to the graveyard that was the World Trade Center.

Then there was Professor M.A. Samad-Matias, who framed the attacks as Islamic resistance to Western exploitation.

"Countries sitting on mineral-rich deposits with fast-growing birth rates - to some people that's a threat," said the anthropology professor.

"Despite all the colonialization, Muslims are able to resist the Western mindset, the Madison Avenue clothing designs . . . to maintain a separate economy," Samad-Matias said.

If only the terrorists kept themselves separate from Western airplanes.

Professor Walter Daum, a proud relic of the '60s, said, "The ultimate responsibility [for the attacks] lies with the rulers of this country, the capitalist ruling class of this country."

There was a bit of muted dissent. Those who disagreed weighed their words carefully against the dominant anti-American and anti-Israel sentiment.

I applaud one older man who complained aloud about the pointlessness of focusing on "root causes" of terrorism.

"Terrible things were done to Germany after World War I, and we could have made the case that if you were nice to Hitler," he wouldn't have murdered millions, said the man, who did not identify himself.

"There is hardly any evidence these thugs were responding to the evils of capitalism. It's more likely they were reacting to this country that allows women to wear bikinis."

He made sense. And he was booed.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2001