I must call into question your judgement in publishing the paid advertisment by Bradley Smith in Wednesday's The Daily Collegian.

Mr. Smith claims there is no proof of the use of gas chambers by the Nazis in War War II while he and his "Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust" do a not-so-subtle dance around an actual denial of the Holocaust. Mr. Smith asks for "proof" of the gas chambers.

Apparently Mr. Smith has been unable to find access to documents on the statements of Adolf Eichmann regarding the Jan. 20, 1942 , meeting in Wannsee, Germany where the endlosung (fina solution) was decided: "The discussion covered killing, elimination and annihilation."

Mr. Smith does not find credible the testimony of U.S. GIs, Holocaust survivors and Germans, government and private. Apparently he has different interpretations of the gas chambers, ovens with human remains, mass graves, documents of human "experimentation" and the function of the camps like Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka.

The Holocaust's lessons serve to remind us that we must be ever vigilant in our attempt to prevent such inhumanity from ever happening again. If Mr. Smith were interested in facts and truth he would spend time doing research; a couple of hours in any library would probably suffice.

I ask: Why would someone want to distort history? I can only come up with one reason -- hate.

I am torn because I do believe in free speech, but Mr. Smith and his Committee for Open Debate about the Holocaust could publish and distribute their own hate-mongering propaganda. Free speech does not mean the Collegian is obligated to act on behalf of such an organization. If the KKK or skinheads asked to print a more blantant hate ad, would the Collegian have accepted? Did the Collegian fall for the absurd veil of legitimacy offered by Mr. Smith?