THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN
January 9, 1997
ISO announces protest against NU prof's controversial web page
By Olivia Thetgyi
Contributing Writer
The International Socialist Organization plans a Monday morning protest
to get Prof. Arthur Butz's Holocaust revisionary theory off-line. The International
Socialist Organization plans to continue protesting against Prof.
Arthur Butz and his web page. At its weekly meeting last night, ISO
said they will protest 9 a.m. Monday outside of Tech LR8--Butz's classroom.
Once again, ISO members will pass out petitions to get Prof. Butz's web
page about his revisionist theory of the Holocaust taken off-line. Members
also will distribute printed copies of the web page. During discussion,
members said they are optimistic about further student support of their
petition. While they believe most people are still ignorant of the situation,
they see the possibility of a large student movement.
"Most people don't know about him," said Kirsten Roberts, a member
of ISO from Chicago. "When you talk to people and they find out (who
he is), they're pretty disgusted. But there's a lot of potential (for support).
I was surprised how willing (his students) were to sign a petition when
they were in his class."
ISO members are not quite as hopeful about the administration's response
to the student action. They said they see the administration's answers to
their continued protest against Butz and his revisionist theories as being
apathetic, at best.
"Their attitude is 'Don't talk about it. Leave him alone so he doesn't
attract attention," said Mike Sweiven, a discussion leader and history
graduate student.
ISO members said they see the NU administration as harboring a blatant racist
because it is more concerned with money than with the ethics of its faculty.
"I could guarantee that if this cost money from financial backers,
he would be gone in a second," said ISO President Joel Feinman, a CAS
freshman.
ISO said they are placing their greatest hopes in the response of the student
body. They see the only change in Butz's status as a tenured professor at
Northwestern as coming from the students.
"I think for change to occur, the students would have to put pressure
on the administration," said discussion leader Cindy Kaffen, a Northwestern
graduate.
ISO members also discussed the possibility of organizing a debate between
NU administration and students to facilitate further interaction between
the two groups.
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