Dear President Wildes,
I have been following the various on-line responses pointing out the blatant errors in both the original NY Times article distorting Dr. Block’s views and in your published statement further maligning his character. Applying Bastiat’s lesson of the broken window, I realize that all of the people who wrote in defense of Dr. Block might have spent their time in various other fruitful endeavors, had such replies not been necessary. However, the logical argumentation and the passion for truth evident in their letters were instructional and inspiring, not only for exposing the biases of mainstream media and academia, but also in demonstrating that intellectual integrity and human decency still exist. I do wonder, though, whether you took the time to read and reflect on them. If so, I’d have thought you would have issued a retraction by now.
In any case, I wanted you to know that although I am really happy as a student at Columbia University, there is one reason I envy students at Loyola: they can take economics classes with Walter Block! Unfortunately, students at my university do not have the opportunity to learn about Austrian economics from their professors, whereas, thanks to Dr. Block, Loyola University is at the cutting edge of this discipline. I am therefore grateful that Dr. Block graciously accepts invitations to give talks on our campus whenever he is in New York and is very generous with his time, ever ready to share his knowledge and discuss the finer points of economic and political theory. In short, Dr. Block is not only a gentleman and a scholar, but also a truly inexhaustible teacher.
Sincerely,
Cristina Cavallo
Columbia College ’14
10:34 am on February 20, 2014
