Article: "OSA Director Nealley fired; dean alleges she embezzled $300,000" (Nov. 15)
Posted by: Dr. Jennifer Zambriski
Comment: As a former OSA Building Manager, I worked closely with Jodie for many years while I was a student in Medford. Jodie was a friend and adviser.
She offered me support and guidance when I needed it, and I'm sure she did the same for many students before and after me. I sincerely hope these allegations are not true. I am so profoundly saddened by this.
Article: "Administrators, senators look to make wireless internet available campus-wide" (Dec. 6)
Posted by: Jeff Hamilton, Class of 2009
Comment: Even though it hasn't been ratified as a wireless standard yet by the International Standards Organization, whoever's in charge of this should definitely consider using 802.11n format wireless routers to blanket the campus - their range and signal strength are much greater than even 802.11g routers, and thus could save the school money.
Additionally, Tufts IT should allow students to run their own wireless routers, providing them with the software to authenticate users as having Tufts network IDs. This could drastically reduce the cost of such a program while speeding up campus-wide wireless adoption.
Article: "The response Stephen Walt refuses to hear" (Dec. 6)
Posted by: David Weden
Comment: While I did not attend the Walt speech at Tufts, I did read the Israel lobby book and found its arguments to be persuasive and provocative.
Amy and Scott argue that Walt's argument is flawed because the definition of the "lobby" is ambiguous. However, in the book Walt and Mearsheimer identify specifically where the various facets of the lobby converge - in their support of American support of Israel. While the lobby may have many factions, their common interest (American support of Israel) is certainly not ambiguous.
On their second point, that the lobby influenced our involvement in the Iraq war, I would agree that single-handedly the lobby cannot be blamed for this unfortunate strategic blunder.
Personally, I think that our leaders lacked the resolve to stand up to those advocating this failed policy. Some of those advocates include members of the Israel lobby and held senior positions in the Bush administraiton. Walt's book documents this, as do other recent books, notably "Against All Enemies" by Richard Clarke.
In short, they clearly played a key role in the drive to war, which Walt and Mearsheimer document in great detail.
Finally, having read the Walt/Measheimer book, I disagree strongly with Amy and Scott's asssertion that the book's argument lacks scholarly depth and is based on "sound bytes and emotion." I found the reverse to be true - each assertion they make is supported by citation, and the book has over 100 pages of footnotes!
Clearly, the authors went to great lengths to put their arguments on solid footing.
