However, while I respect the actions of those trying to stop the event from taking place, forcing the administration to shut down the event will smack of silencing academic freedom. It will look as though outside actors are using economic boycotts to shut the mouth of a freedom activist. It would be far-better for Cardozo students to vigorously protest the choice of their colleagues to reward this sinister man with a Peace Prize. I hope that, as in the past, there are law students at Cardozo today who will write, hang posters, assemble, and make their voices heard in condemning the warped reality which Carter represents. A groundswell of young protesters will look better then a top-down economic pressure. (However, while I do not necessarily agree with their course of action, it is good to see folks like “Coalition of Concerned Cardozo Alumni” making a fuss!)
To be sure, I lost some friends at Cardozo — those who brought Tutu into the campus. But I earned the respect of many fellow would-be lawyers and opinion makers, and I taught them (and myself) the value of standing firmly for what one believes to be true. At graduation, Dean Rudenstine gave me a big hug when he handed me my JD on stage, and that girl, Melissa, who started CHAI, is now known as Malkah Fleisher, and lives in Jerusalem today.
