The Star has run several letters by NIU economists personally attacking NIU Sociology Professor Kay Forest for the paper she presented at our February program on Misinformation in the Media.

Although neither of the critics heard Forest’s address nor asked to read her scholarly critique of media coverage of the Gulf war, both writers felt free to publicize sarcastic, insulting comments based on the newspaper account.

As a community-campus network concerned about peace and justice, we feel Forest’s paper shed a great deal of light on the phenomenon sweeping this country today.

Namely, this is the war fever masking as patriotism, coupled with a tragic lack of concern for the human victims and environmental disaster of the war which our president celebrates as a glorious victory.

The economists attacking Forest have every right to question her conclusions from the data she presented, but it is unfortunate that their response is totally lacking the scholarly discipline displayed in the paper they are criticizing.

We take this occasion to express publicly our profound respect for Forest’s professional expertise and our deep gratitude for the many hours of research which went into her paper.

NIU is indeed fortunate to have the services of this dedicated, highly talented scholar.

Her leadership this year in our efforts to inform ourselves and the public on critical peace and justice issues have been outstanding!

Steering committee members

DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice