To the Editor:

Re: “This Is a Column about the Holocaust, Not Gaza,” Opinion, Feb. 26

This article highlights a campus-wide rift that has been exposed by numerous recent events: the division between politically correct complacency and progressive dialogue.

The Israel-Gaza displays over the past few weeks, both by the Islamic and Jewish communities, circumvented constructive and informative debate in favor of emotional acts that brought heightened tension to the conflict rather than any sense of resolution. The acts of members of the architecture school earlier this week was run by students protesting a number of issues in which they felt their voices were not adequately represented. A simple dialogue early on could have diffused both of these situations (as was done a few days later each time).

The lesson here is that the University must do all it can to sponsor early dialogue on these issues, opening the floor to progressive and intellectual discourse, rather than resort to events that amount to “too little, too late.” These after-the-fact debates simply come to serve as emotionally exhausting exercises in futility. I hope we can come together to create a more constructive environment for this campus in the future, investigating the ambiguities in these situations with integrity and open minds.

Matt Danzer ’12