New York, April 20—A few weeks ago I wrote about the president of the National Student Association, young David Ifshin, and his activities in behalf of the enemy in Hanoi. Little Lord Haw Haw has now objected to what I said, and you will not believe the sanction he threatens against me. He proposes to lead a movement to persuade the senate of the University of Syracuse to withdraw the honorary degree conferred upon me two years ago. Here is the reasoning of young Ifshin. I charged in my column that he is ignorant. But in fact he got very high grades at Syracuse. Therefore I have defamed Syracuse. And if I defamed Syracuse, Syracuse has no business honoring me.
“If Buckley is so disgruntled with the academic quality of Syracuse University,” the student newspaper writes, “he ought to resign his honorary degree from this institution. Of course, he probably won’t, and so that leaves the resolution of the dilemma up to the university community. It is incumbent upon us to safeguard the good name of Syracuse University by affirming that a real degree from SU is more substantial than an honorary degree. The best way to affirm that is to divest the ungrateful Mr. Buckley of his SU diploma, and a number of students intend to propose doing just that in the University Senate.”
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