‘A Satellite Campus’

As a resident of the East Village, I have long been concerned with the changes New York University has been making to the neighborhood [“A Satellite Campus,” Andrew Berman, Opinion, March 21, 2006].

One not often discussed is their impact on green space, a very precious urban amenity. As the university has been building high-rise dormitories along 14th Street and down Third Avenue, thousands of students have naturally taken over Union Square as their campus.

As NYU continues to acquire building sites in a random manner, there is a huge gain in population, but no new park space. A long promised master plan is essential. But realistically, without a satellite campus there is no way for NYU to provide new public space, to compensate for what’s been casually seized from tax-paying New Yorkers.

LEO J. BLACKMAN
Manhattan
Mr. Blackman is an architect.

‘David Duke Claims Vindication’

Your attempt to disparage the recent work of certain Harvard professors on the power of the Israeli lobby is inappropriate [“David Duke Claims To Be Vindicated by a Harvard Dean,” Eli Lake, Page 1, March 20, 2006].

You ought not use your news pages to delegitimize, by conflating it with racism and anti-Semitism, public discussion of an always serious and relevant subject: the influence of any powerful domestic lobby, of whatever stripe (Israeli, Cuban, Latino, etc.), in shaping American policy toward other nations.

The subject is particularly central now, as President Bush has unilaterally, in the absence of any treaty, announced his intention to use American military force to defend Israel.

For most of our history, mindful of President Washington’s admonition in his “Farewell Address” (the greatest public paper of any president), we declined the lure of entangling alliances with other nations.

Before we joined NATO, the issue of entering into alliances which would, in advance of particular congressional authorization, obligate the sending of American troops abroad was heavily debated; and many of America’s most honorable conservative public figures, including Senator Taft and former President Hoover, were uncomfortable with doing so.

The United States did enter into NATO. But it is never amiss to have a full and honest discussion before this country gives its word to commit its military might, and the lives of its soldiers, on behalf of any foreign country.

DAVID B. SIMPSON
Tenafly, N.J.

‘Beyond Deterrence’

I want to commend The New York Sun for keeping a focus on Iran, the premier sponsor of militant Islam’s anti-American, anti-Western terrorist war [“Beyond Deterrence,” David Ellenson, Opinion, March 14, 2006].

Whether they have recognized it implicitly or explicitly, the people at the Sun know that Iran is and always has been at the center of this war, and so their newspaper is the only one nationwide to keep a continual focus on that terrorist-sponsoring regime.

Most importantly, the Sun has maintained a focus on what has, in my opinion, been the most underreported aspect of this war: the many pro-freedom, pro-American Iranian citizens who oppose their regime and want to overturn it.

Keep up the great coverage on Iran and her dissidents.

JOSEPH KELLARD
Oceanside, N.Y.

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