I liked the point in the Cougar staff editorial (July 8) that called UH President Arthur K. Smith a coward. I fully accept the diagnosis. He is a coward. Certified. That's all he is. I have a different take on why he deserves the title.
It looks like the "young and the reckless" in the Cougar editorial staff do not understand the difference between cowardice and stupidity.
For Smith to do something truly aggravating in retaliation for the exercise of my First Amendment Rights and expose the institution and its resources to litigation, when he knows full well that I'll have him and all his Third World chauvinist friends by the balls with the pliers of the American Civil Liberties Union, is sheer stupidity - not courage.
However incompetent, he can still be reasonably expected to exercise a minimal amount of good judgment before he would do something that stupid. It's all a question of having a modicum of a cool head and the most basic respect for the Constitution - not cowardice.
Courage is a show of character in doing the right thing. Smith can indeed show courage by challenging anti-Semites, Third World witch hunters and all other scum that have infested the history department with the hysteria that their lives are in danger for no apparent reason; by cutting them down to size; and by taking an affirmative action to ensure adequate instruction and research in Russian history, which would truly reflect the best interests of the university and the country.
That would be a show of courage.
The clown does not have an ounce of it.
Fabian Vaksman
doctoral candidate, history
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