Goucher’s guilt
In early February, 2009, The Baltimore Sun published my op-ed, "Goucher unfair to accused professor." I cited remarks by Goucher's then-president, Sanford Ungar. While he acknowledged he had insufficient evidence to prove the charges of genocide against Professor Leopold Munyakazi, he nevertheless approved the dismissal of the French teacher to prevent disruption among students attending classes and to secure the "best interests of the Goucher community."
In this light, I compared Goucher's actions to those of our government when it established Guantanamo Bay prison for suspected terrorists while offering them neither legal representation nor a proper and fair trial. I concluded that despite widespread criticism of George W. Bush from those in academic life, colleges often emulate their adversaries when it comes to suspending basic principles such as "innocent until proven guilty." I added that those in academic life can exercise power "shrouded with the words of virtue."
On Feb. 23, 2009, Mr. Ungar responded with a stinging rebuke. My comparison of Goucher's treatment of Professor Munyakazi to Guantanamo Bay prison he found "outrageous and obscene." He briefly recounted how carefully Goucher deliberated over this decision and tried to provide for the professor and his family. Then he reminded readers that my comparison was also "ludicrous and offensive." At that time no member of Goucher's philosophy department offered any public statement questioning this decision. Even Mr. Ungar concluded, in The Sun and later in New York magazine, that "we might never know" what really happened.
It is now 2018, and we do know what happened. As reported in The Sun, Leopold Munyakazi was found not guilty by a Rwandan court (“Cleared of murders, convicted for speech: Towson family finds bittersweet end to case of accused Goucher professor,” Sept. 3). Since Goucher's decision, Mr. Munyakazi's son committed suicide, his wife has endured years of suffering and desperation, and a French professor has lost 10 years of his life. And Mr. Ungar's response? He is troubled because we like to think of an American college campus "as a haven" for those in danger in their own countries. Now a Goucher philosophy professor finally goes public by stating the obvious — this is all so "intensely unjust."
As Goucher's representatives shed belated crocodile tears over this moral outrage, perhaps Sanford Ungar would like to revisit his derisive rejoinder from February of 2009. Does he still think a comparison of the suffering of those in Guantanamo Bay prison to the suffering of Leopold Munyakazi and his family is "outrageous and obscene" or "ludicrous and offensive?" Will he acknowledge Goucher's role in this travesty, or continue to shroud its decision to abandon Professor Munyakazi with words of virtue?