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Individuals who circulate these deplorable ads and inserts further
argue falsely that student newspapers are ethically and morally
obligated to accept them. They underestimate college newspaper editors'
ability to see through their scurrilous campaign, however. All agree
that universities are bastions of intellectual thought, vigorous
debate and open dialogue. Turning down these ads, however, would
not, as individuals circulating the inserts claim, contravene this
spirit. While universities must encourage and support academic exploration,
tolerance of different viewpoints and rigorous debate, they are
not expected to teach classes questioning whether the earth is flat
or instructing students that the horrific African slave trade never
occurred.
Rejecting an ad or insert denying the Holocaust no more hinders
a university's fundamental mission than does refusing to teach a
class promoting racism, segregation and racial subjugation. The
existence of the Holocaust is beyond debate; these ads are nothing
more than anti-Semitic tracts. Worse still, Holocaust deniers strive
to confuse readers by disguising this venom and vileness as a legitimate
alternative view of history. Newspapers that print these advertisements
and inserts risk giving tacit approval to the Holocaust-denial movement
and its abhorrent message of racism, Nazism and Fascism.
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