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Stefan Borst-Censullo's letter to the editor (, November 3rd) ironically serves to reinforce the exact points that Jordan Rothman made when he documented his tribulations as a politically conservative student at Brandeis. With very little imagination, Borst-Censulloso hurls every epithet in the book: Republicans students are “ignorant” and “paranoid;

” Republican events are “homophobic” and “racist;

” Republican speakers practice “demagoguery.” I wonder, did Mr. Borst-Censullo attend Cathy Young's lecture in Spring 2005 when she talked about her life under communism in the former Soviet Union? Did he participate in the Ethics center-sponsored discussion with Prof. Jerry Cohen about fundamentalist Islamic terrorism after viewing Obsession? Did he plant a flag on the Great Lawn in honor of a victim who perished on 9/11? Did he talk with Jordan about his passion for teaching civics to inner city children as part of his work at Americorps?

Painting the entire campus conservative movement with a monolithic brush encourages the environment that makes it so unacceptable for conservatives like Jordan to 'come out' in the first place. Of course, no group has a spotless record here at Brandeis;

but the spirit of the marketplace of ideas ought to prevail over petty ideological grandstanding.

The fact of the matter is that conservative students are a discriminated minority here.

Their views deserve equal consideration from all of us.

Dmitry Vilner '08