To the editor:

I am a fifth generation Kansan, the product of Kansas public schools, including Kansas University. It is dismaying to find my home state has become a synonym for the ignorant and foolish. The most recent evidence that, regardless of my dismay, apparently that comparison is apt is the behavior of the university administration, the dean of the William Allen White (!) School of Journalism and certain Kansas legislators with regard to the activities of Professor Guth.

Shame. This man is entitled to have and to express his private personal opinions without having his livelihood and professional career disrupted or destroyed. He did not advocate violence nor did he wish the death of anyone; anyone who says otherwise clearly is not literate. His speech may be intemperate, even overly passionate, but he has a constitutional right to say what he — and many others  — think.

Once I was proud to say I was from Kansas, proud to have been a scholar and honors graduate of KU. Now I am embarrassed to admit either.