Mr. Horowitz does not cite any evidence to support this characterization.  As Professor Wolfe responds, “I have never been a critic of Israel, let alone a ‘fierce critic.’”

Professor Wolfe responds, “on the contrary, Peaceworkers is not funded in any way by the Peace Center. The students have always been responsible for their own fundraising efforts and have a separate student organization account.”

Mr. Mock’s allegations were investigated by the university and found to be groundless in 2004, well before The Professors was published.  Yet Mr. Horowitz fails to mention this fact, and repeats Mr. Mock’s allegations as if they still had merit.

In 2004, Ball State’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Beverley Pitts, wrote a letter of support for Professor Wolfe which explains:

Mr. Mock’s assertion that students received extra credit for a university-sponsored trip to Washington, D.C., for the purpose of protesting the war in Iraq is incorrect.  Rather, three students in the course last spring chose to attend a lobbying workshop in Washington to learn the protocol for lobbying Congress. This opportunity, which was made available to all students, developed skills pertaining to lobbying that apply to all issues, independent of position. This experience fulfilled the field assignment, and travel support was provided to encourage attendance.

Provost Pitts also notes, “as part of fulfilling his field assignment, Mr. Mock received credit for attending a meeting in Indianapolis at which Vice President Dick Cheney spoke.”[1]  Mr. Horowitz does not mention this fact in his book.

When representatives of Mr. Horowitz’s organization Students for Academic Freedom responded to Provost Pitt’s letter, Ball State University President Jo Ann M. Gora sent a letter to the Muncie Star Press headlined “Ball State’s critics ignore facts, policies.”  Her letter states:

[Professor Wolfe’s] course not only encouraged the discussion of differing viewpoints but also allowed students to fulfill a field assignment course requirement by participating in activities outside the classroom in ways that best fit their own personal beliefs.

It should also be noted that the course was evaluated by students that semester—as it has been each time it has been taught—and there were no negative evaluations. In fact, Mr. Mock has never made a direct complaint to the university—formal or informal—and he waited until months after the course had concluded before first making claims in an article published by Mr. Horowitz's online magazine. The only complaint the university received was a letter from Sara Dogan of the national Students for Academic Freedom organization. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Beverley Pitts responded promptly to Ms. Dogan after looking into Mr. Mock's claims as stated in her letter.

Ball State is merely one target in an unfair and outrageous smear campaign by Mr. Horowitz and his organization. Mr. Horowitz has stated that all “250 peace studies programs in America…teach students to identify with America's terrorist enemies and to identify America as a Great Satan oppressing the world's poor and causing them to go hungry.” Clearly, his problem isn't with Ball State or even with our Peace Studies program. I wonder if Mr. Horowitz is aware that a third of the course Brett Mock took focuses on domestic violence and another third on mediation, while only one third deals with the history of peace movements and nonviolence.[2]

Mr. Horowitz fails to mention either of these letters in his chapter on Professor Wolfe. 

One of the students who traveled to Washington, D.C., also refuted Mr. Mock’s charges in another letter of support for Professor Wolfe:

“If Brett [Mock] would’ve attended the class in which we reported on what we actually did there, he would know that the trip had NOTHING to do with protesting the war in Iraq. [emphasis in original] The title of the seminar that we attended [in Washington, D.C.] was ‘Spring Lobby Weekend 2004.’ At the seminar, we learned how to lobby our senators and representatives about ANY issue, not necessarily one having to due with peace.”

Again, the only evidence Mr. Horowitz cites for these claims are the allegations of Mr. Mock.  In response, Professor Wolfe points out that the required readings for his course “include sections in the Barash and Webel text [Peace and Conflict Studies] covering the topics of peace through strength, criticisms of peace movements, apparent failures of nonviolence, and rebuttals to the Leninist/Marxist argument that capitalism promotes imperialism which in turn, leads to war.”

In addition to these readings, Professor Wolfe states that his students are exposed to multiple sides of pertinent issues in class discussions and on course examinations.  Finally, Professor Wolfe points out, “[any] Ball State student who has a complaint can appeal their grade to a board comprised of both students and faculty as outlined in the BSU ‘Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.’  In my 22 years of teaching at Ball State University, I have yet to have a student formally appeal a grade, including Brett Mock.”