This is in response to Torie Bosch's letter ("Readers respond to column on liberal influence," Dec. 8). She writes that, "It cannot be pure coincidence that many professors are both brilliant and liberal," and that they are liberal because they are "smarter and more informed." The reasoning behind Bosch's argument is wrong.

Up until the 1930s, most brilliant and accomplished scholars were of the belief that although slavery in America prior to the Civil War not necessarily a good thing, African Americans were happier as slaves than they were as freedmen because their owners took care of the slaves' basic needs, such as food and shelter. Were they right? Perhaps Bosch would argue that because liberal professors are in the majority, they are right. The fact is, just because brilliant people think or do something does not make that thing right.