Giuliani does not deserve Midd degree

Author: Ward J. Oliver '77

As a resident of New York City for the past 18 years and a former Middlebury College student, I was disappointed to learn that Middlebury will be awarding Rudolph Giuliani an honorary degree.

Giuliani, however honorably he conducted himself on 9/11, governed a polarized NYC. He was loyal to his friends - Bernard Kerick's appointment as Police Commissioner, despite a thin resume - and vicious to his enemies - cutting Legal Aid's budget after a short and ill-fated strike by its attorneys. He imposed his self-defined morality by slashing public funding to the Brooklyn Museum because of an exhibition he found objectionable - the museum later won in Federal Court. At the same time, Giuliani was widely-rumored to be conducting an extra-marital affair with a high-ranking staff member. When Giuliani ultimately decided to end his marriage, the public manner in which he pursued the matter revealed him as self-centered and insensitive.

Many New Yorkers believe Giuliani's dogmatic and uncritical support for the police created an environment hostile to civil liberties, contributing to the deaths of individuals like Amadou Diallo and Patrick Dorismond. Giuliani's bias in these matters was amply displayed when he authorized the - unlawful - release of Dorismond's family court record within hours of his shooting by the police. Giuliani later publicly criticized Bruce Springsteen for writing a song - containing the refrain: "41 shots" - about Diallo's death. It outraged the mayor that anyone might criticize the justice of an upstate New York jury acquitting police officers for the homicide of an unarmed, African immigrant in the Bronx.

By the year 2000, Giuliani's popularity in the city had markedly declined and he withdrew from the U.S. Senate race. Since September 11, 2001, however, through the vehicle of Giuliani Associates, he has been able to enrich himself and capitalize on the image he nurtured in the days following that tragic event.

I understand that the College administration recently rebuked this newspaper for an illustration that accompanied a piece opposing Giuliani as commencement speaker. I hope that this controversy will not serve to distract and stifle debate within the Middlebury community on the more important issue: whether, given his entire record, Giuliani deserves this honor.