Bigotry on Campuses

John Brooks Slaughter’s column, “Bigotry Is Back in Fashion” (Editorial Page, Oct. 7), and its charge that racism is back on our nation’s campuses was accurate, perceptive and disturbing in its implications about the very places where an intelligent dialogue should be taking place that would demolish the very foundations of racism.

Yet these college campuses are now the fertile ground for a new racism that must not go unnoticed or unattended. This alarming rise in racial ugliness can be found on every campus, public and private. I teach at a well-known Catholic university in Los Angeles that has witnessed several such racist incidents over the last several months and for which yet another “committee” will investigate and make recommendations. It is discouraging to see this sort of thing on a campus that prides itself on social justice, but this epidemic knows no boundaries.

It can only be dealt with by swift, decisive, dedicated action. If the skinhead mentality is allowed a foothold in academia, future generations are at risk. Slaughter, president of Occidental College, appears to be one educator who not only “talks the talk” but who “walks the walk.” We need more such campus leaders.

ALFRED LIGHTFOOT

Glendale