Letters to the Editor

University should be more careful when selecting and reporting on speakers

The recent dicussion of race relations in the 'Prince' interested me greatly. Though I am not American, I appreciate your sincerity and courage in bringing up this topic. Coming from China, I appreciate Princeton's friendly and cooperative environment that encourages students from different cultural backgrounds and with different ideological inclinations to interact with each other.

However, I cannot help feeling upset about a recent event that has created a great deal of tension in the University Chinese community. Driven by curiosity, I went to the Dec. 7 lecture given by Harry Wu, a Chinese dissident, in McCosh 50. Frankly, I was very disappointed at the quality of information provided and shocked at how Wu associated all Chinese people with the allegations he made against China. Not only were the sources he quoted outdated and unreliable, some of his information was simply false.

It was obvious that the majority of the audience members, who happened to be Chinese, were not convinced by his arguments either. During the question-and-answer session, which was longer than the actual lecture, Wu was sometimes unable to respond when audience members pointed out the fallacies in his argument.

So I was greatly surprised when reading a report of the lecture on the University Website the next day, which detailed Wu's lecture without even mentioning the audience's response. Though that article was removed from the Website because of a boycott by University Chinese students, I still remember the fury and humiliation I felt at the lecture as a person of Chinese descent. A lot of my Chinese friends share my feelings, too. Why should we Chinese be ridiculed and cursed just because our mother country, China, is Communist? Why shouldn't our right to maintain our dignity be protected at the same time that Wu's right to express his opinion is?

Studying at the Wilson School, I understand the importance of tolerance and mutual understanding in easing ethnic and social tensions. But a lecture purposefully distorting the realities in China and evoking tensions can only exacebate Sino-U.S. relations.

Princeton, as a prestigious academic institution, should not sponsor falsehood. It should sponsor truth and fairness, not political or ethnic stereotypes. There are many brilliant Chinese people whose opinions I'd like to listen to. Their talks would be invaluable in conveying the proper messages between the Chinese and American people. I hope to attend more of their lectures in the future. Yanping Ming GS