To the editor:

Your May 7 edition carried a screed under the headline “America’s collapsing university system” by a columnist unknown to me, Victor Davis Hanson. He excoriates students, faculty and the system in general with virtually no supporting facts or corroborating data. I don’t know his politics, but the article resembles a typical rambling MAGA campaign pitch designed to rile up the base. I’ll let highly qualified KU faculty and alumni respond if they think it even warrants a response.

Mr. Hanson describes foreign students in the same terms the MAGA leader describes undocumented arrivals — as law-breaking and obscenely acting undesirables. Having worked with outstanding foreign students for five decades, I know them to be serious, law-abiding scholars. Most have taken home what they learned here and put it to their personal advantage and the betterment of their nation. That includes a KU alumnus, the former president of the nation of Colombia. The assertion that once here the foreign students romanticize the authoritarian dictatorships back home is pure baloney. They marvel at our political freedom, with the rule of law and peaceful dissent, as well as our great array of religious institutions. Their presence here enriches campus life for those engaging with them.

Graham Kreicker,

Lawrence