To The Editor:

We were disappointed to see that you allowed your journalistic ethic to be compromised by re-writing your draft in a way more favorable to the Colgate administration.Specific changes from the draft you circulated to those interviewed (an almost unheard of business practice among media entities) to the version that was published include the following. The quote by Bob Tyburski on fundraising and alumni participation added high in the piece. The reason alumni haven’t asked about the residential plan at Chopp’s meetings is because she has not allowed questions except for a few “softballs” that were planted prior to the public discussion. We are hearing from hundreds of alumni who swear they won’t make any further contributions to Colgate. As for myself, the $10 million that has earmarked in my trust, will be re-directed away from Colgate University.Your description of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) fails to include that the organization was co-founded by Richard Lamm, a Democrat and former governor of Colorado. Lamm and Cheney have been determinedly non-partisan with ACTA. Your comments make it sound like a right-leaning biased group. Additionally, to put Colgate in the same class as Northwestern, Brown and Cornell, which are measured against Big Ten and Ivy League colleges, bespeaks a pretension that is unwarranted. Colgate is more fairly compared against other colleges such as Berkeley, Denison, Duke, William and Mary, and the University of Wyoming. Regardless of which class of school one compares Colgate against, receiving an “F” grade for Core curriculum by ACTA, a highly regarded national non-partisan organization on 400 campuses across the country, is still an embarrassment, no matter how Dean Roelofs spins it.Finally, you changed Bob Tyburski’s quote. In the original version he said, “It’s not just a land grab, its part of forming a new relationship and partnership with organizations that are very important to Colgate.”That Bob Hale would characterize the efforts of Students & Alumni for Colgate, Inc. as “a little noise in the corner” shows the arrogance of this administration toward the alumni and Greek members. Read the letters posted on the www.sa4c.com website to John Golden and the Board of Trustees. These are but a sample of the outrage among the alumni for the coercive land-grab being forced onto the Greek organizations.If Greek life at Colgate is so important to this administration, let them prove that they are sincere by rescinding their demand to own the Greek houses. They should prove their sincerity by establishing policies that treat Greek-letter students the same as other students. Why should an entire Greek house be punished for a disciplinary violation by a few students? Students in theme houses and dorms aren’t treated this way. The Colgate administration discriminates against Greek students. Why?

Charles H. “Tim” Sanford