Wednesday, December 4, 2002

by Roxanne Yaghoubi – Gazette Reporter
additional reporting by Jeremy Schifeling

On Tuesday, December 3, David Horowitz, the famed 60s radical turned
conservative, gave a speech at Swarthmore College. The speech, held in the
Friends Meetinghouse, was standing-room only as members of the student
body, faculty and staff came together. Without using a microphone, Horowitz
spoke for more than an hour and a half.

Horowitz was introduced by Randy Goldstein ’05, head of the College
Republicans. Starting with a joke, Horowitz announced that the last time he
came to Swarthmore was for Coming Out Conservatives Week. This joke opened
a prominent theme in his speech: the liberal bias of many colleges and
universities in the U.S., including Swarthmore. Declaring that students are
paying $30,000 but only getting half an education, he raved against the
professors for not fulfilling their task of opening up their students to
new ideas. Horowitz then delved into personal matters and explored his own
background. He explained that he was raised “by communist parents” and met
W.E. B. DuBois at age 11. In the 60s, he became a large part of the Black
Panther Movement. This has all changed, and now he claims to be on a
first-name basis with President Bush.

After the introduction, Horowitz described the lies that he sees behind the
“hate America” left. Though he still holds respect for some people on the
left, he “spoke in generalizations since this is the only chance you’re
going to get to see someone talk the way I talk, thanks to your
totalitarian faculty.” In particular, he generalized the Democrats as a
racist party and denounced them for their welfare and educational policies.
Once again he also attacked Swarthmore by claiming pacifism was an
impossible ideal, and stated that students should not have been handing out
flyers spelling out the Quaker beliefs on peace. He also stated that he
would have more respect for the peace movement if they went to a bus stop
in Israel or Iraq. Using various historical examples, such as the war in
Korea and the 1993 Somalian crisis, the speaker stated his belief that a
concern for peace has caused the U.S. to not intervene where it really was
necessary.

After his treatment of past issues, Horowitz then went on to speak of the
current issues surrounding September 11 and its aftermath. He derided the
peace movement for defending the creators of one of the worst international
tragedies of all time. America should not concentrate on why it caused
terrorism, he said; after all no one thought about what the root causes of
McVeigh’s bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building were. Horowitz
further argued that the rulers of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim
countries were pigs who greatly harmed their own people. In comparison,
Horowitz marked America as one of the best countries in the world. He
declared that if the students “looked at the real world, every one of you
is blessed to live in this country.”

The speaker then went on to explore the Israel/Palestine issue in greater
depth. Arguing that Israel is the only Middle Eastern country where Arabs
have rights, he also stated that the very concept of nationhood does not
exist among the Arabs. He declared that the creation of the PLO was more
about destroying Israel than creating self-determination for the Arabs.
Furthermore, he said, the Palestinians are the only people in the world who
put kids on the front lines through the rock throwers of the Intifada and
the suicide bombers. For these reasons, Horowitz believes the Palestinian
culture “to be worse than the Nazis.”

He concluded the speech by assuring the audience that everyone in the world
wants to come to the U.S. “People vote with their feet,” and thus our vast
numbers of immigrants prove to him that this is indeed a great country.

The speech was followed by a question and answer period where Horowitz
explained his beliefs on topics as diverse as Clinton’s influence, North
Korea, the CIA, and Noam Chomsky.

*****

by Pei Pei Liu
Co-Managing Editor

The individual apprehended in Sharples on November 25 and suspected in
recent thefts is still in prison on the charge of illegal trespass, Chief
Craig of the Swarthmore Borough Police said yesterday.

Brian Helsel, 19, was unable to make 10 percent of his $5,000 bail and is
being held awaiting a preliminary arraignment. Craig reported that the
Borough Police do not have a good address for Helsel and are currently
still working with Swarthmore College Public Safety, Springfield Police,
and the District Attorney’s office to obtain a positive identification from
witnesses.

“We originally put together a photo array for some of the people who had
seen a suspicious individual in the vicinity of some of these incidents,”
Craig explained. “The District Attorney’s office recommended some changes,
so we are in the process of getting different photos to show to the witnesses.”

Witnesses had reported seeing a male individual carrying instrument cases
near the Swarthmore Rutledge School close to the time that several musical
instruments disappeared from the school. A description of that individual
matched the description of a suspicious person seen on campus during a rash
of bookbag thefts.

“We issued the information to the Borough officers as well as the college
Public Safety officers,” Craig said. “We’ve also been communicating with
the Springfield Police, as there were some transactions with stolen credit
cards at the Springfield Mall that were witnessed.”

Chief Craig could not remark on whether the multiple incidents of theft on
campus and in the Ville were all related, or whether the Borough Police are
currently seeking suspects besides Helsel.

“It depends on if they [the witnesses] can identify him,” he said. “The
only other people involved in the investigation are witnesses, and until we
complete the photo spread, we can’t say anything.”

On December 1st at 7:40 p.m. Officer Kline was responding to an emergency
assignment. The police vehicle was traveling north on North Chester Road
with the lights and siren activated. While passing on the left side of the
highway another vehicle traveling north on North Chester Road made a right
turn to enter a driveway and contacted the police vehicle. Officer Kline
was transported to Taylor Hospital, treated for neck pain, and released.
The other driver did not seek medical treatment. Both vehicles were towed
from the scene.

*****

* In another statement of compliance, an Iraqi official announced that the
report on weapons of mass destruction would be completed and presented a
day ahead of the deadline set by the U.N. Security Council. U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan praised the effort, but noted that Iraq needs to sustain
this trend of cooperation. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer also
mentioned that this report could be extremely long and in Arabic, which
would take days to translate. Thus far, inspectors have reported no
chemical or biological weapons, nuclear weapons, or long range missiles.

* Saudi Arabia, homeland to 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers, released a
report detailing what efforts have been made to track money donated to
charities that may fund terrorism. A senior White House official lauded
this step as “a welcome commitment to be more vigilant.”

* Strikes continued but waned in Venezuela in protest of president Hugo
Chavez. Protestors claim that his leftist policies have hurt the economy
and the workforce. Chavez called the strike a failure and issued a
statement citing his intention to remain president. This strike recalls
similar protests last April in which Chavez was deposed, then restored to
power after two days, thanks to popular support.

*****

Swarthmore College Wind Ensemble Chamber Winds Concert
Lang Concert Hall, 4:30 p.m.

Physics Job Candidate Research Lecture
“Cantilever Magnetometry: Measuring Magnetic Properties of Small Structures”
Dr. Michelle Chabot National Institute of Standards and Technology (Boulder)
Dupont 133, 4:30 p.m.

French Film Festival
Kohlberg 328, 7:00 p.m.

Russian Folk Singing
Kohlberg 228, 7:00 p.m.

Israeli Folk Dancing
Presented by Ruach and Im Tirtzu
Upper Tarble, 7:30 p.m.

Anti-War Film Screening
Presented by the Film Society and Why War?
Kohlberg 226, 7:30 p.m.

Hanukkah Study Break “Wild Women Wednesday”
Parrish Parlors, 9:30 p.m.

———-
Professor Robert Pasternack, Professor of Chemistry, will present a faculty
lecture entitled “Assembly, Organization and Communication – a Chemistry
Lecture.” Porphyrin molecules can be buried in the interior of a DNA double
helix. Professor Pasternack and his research team have found a trigger that
brings the porphyrins out of their “hiding places” and induces them to
assemble at the surface of the DNA molecule. In this form they are curled
about the nucleic acid forming an extended superhelix – – the porphyrins
all communicating with one another through their electronic structures.
Professor Pasternack will discuss what they have learned about these arrays.

The lecture will begin at 4:15 on Thursday, December 5 in Kohlberg 115 and
will be followed by a reception. All faculty, students, and staff are welcome.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

The Garnet Tide laid waste to Bryn Mawr in their 61-25 Centennial
Conference victory. Highlights include freshman Zoey Adams-Deutsch’s
career-high 13 points and four assists, as well as sophmore Ali Wolff’s
career-high contribution of 15 points and 7-of-9 shooting.

*****

Today:
Men’s basketball at Philadelphia Biblical, 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:
There are no contests scheduled tomorrow.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves to be like other people.”
–Arthur Schopenhauer

*****
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