I have been an academic all my life, and everything I hear from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute goes counter to the principles I was taught that academia is supposed to instill.

For any institution of higher learning, the No. 1 principle is to take care of students and bring the best out of them. A close second principle is to instill in students the willingness and desire to assume responsibility, as future leaders in our society. A clear third principle is to deal with others openly and honestly. A fourth principle is to question authority. If authority can't give a plausible or correct answer, then it should not be privileged as an authority.

RPI is failing in all four of these principles. Threatening students with disciplinary action for voicing their opinions is shocking and shameful. In a time when teachers bemoan student apathy, it is clear RPI has a number of committed students willing to take on responsibility. Moreover, the students are not asking for something "extra." The RPI Student Union charter clearly outlines the rights of the students in governing their own union.

As the saying known as Sayer's Law states, the reason university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small. Why the RPI administration has chosen to make an issue over student control of the student union is a mystery. What is to be gained by alienating the student body and countless alumni by pursuing this issue? The amount of money gained by the school through such a takeover is relatively small, in an institution that has millions of dollars in its operating budget.

One unpleasant and unfortunate conclusion that one can draw is that the administration feels the need to exert its authority over the students. This reminds me of a situation in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure," when Isabella addresses Angelo, who is about to put her brother to death for a relatively insignificant reason: "... It is excellent to have a giant's strength/But it is tyrannous to use it like a giant."

Rather than punishing students for exercising critical thinking, the RPI administration should encourage their students to pursue the truth. Where would our scientific world be if Galileo and Copernicus knuckled under to the church authority that these great scientists were challenging?

I grew up in Troy, and RPI has always been a part of my life. My grandmother, Marie Keegan, was in charge of campus mail at RPI for years, and one summer she got me a job as a janitor there. I grew up admiring RPI hockey, and my hero was Bob Brinkworth. For years, I also ran with the RPI running group from the Armory.

My brother Matt graduated from RPI with a masters degree in Materials Engineering. Thanks in part to the great education he got at RPI, he has been president of the Metal Powder Industry Federation, and president of their International Society. I am saddened by the state of affairs facing current RPI students.

The irony of the situation is that when George Low was the president of RPI, the student-administration relationship was excellent. Lee Wilcox, the vice-president of student affairs under Low, achieved such a great working relationship with the students that the Student Government office in the student union is dedicated to Wilcox.

If I were a prospective student at RPI and heard from current students the terrible state of affairs in the RPI community, I'd run the other way.

I only wish to see RPI become a beacon of light for its students, not a punitive community.