I would like to congratulate Penn State President Graham Spanier on effectively polarizing the Penn State community and academic freedom debate ("Spanier defends PSU academic freedoms," Dec. 7).

Spanier's knee-jerk reaction to the House of Representatives' academic freedom hearings and subsequent formation of a Penn State American Association of University Professors chapter is disgusting and just as anti-student as the academic freedom breaches that lie at the heart of this issue. Spanier's ridiculous statements serve only to highlight the need for unbiased, outside sources of recourse for wronged students.

Further, his claim that the state Legislature has no place in the defense of academic freedom is ludicrous. How can anyone say with a straight face that Penn State should essentially be exempt from accountability to a body that provides hundreds of millions of dollars annually? Next time the administration tells us to lobby state Legislature for higher appropriations, I'm sure our representatives will jump at the chance to fund the continuation of Spanier's shenanigans.