Rubenstein's generosity benefits Duke

Although Elliott Wolf began his Feb. 8 column about David Rubenstein and The Carlyle Group by claiming to divorce himself from Michael Moore in journalistic standards, I find that he has done a poor job.

Wolf asserts in his piece that “the public perception of The Carlyle Group is that it is an unscrupulous organization that has significantly profited through dubious transactions with the Saudis, the bin Ladens and the U.S. government.”

I’d like to know how many people, having not seen Fahrenheit 911, would have that opinion, much less know what The Carlyle Group is in the first place. Furthermore, the assertion that Mr. Rubenstein’s generous donation could be considered “blood money” is preposterous and reveals a stereotypical bias against any connection whatsoever to the Middle East.

While it is true that members of the bin Laden family were present at a Carlyle Group meeting Sept. 11, Wolf, just like his contemporary Michael Moore, has implied that those people had a connection to Osama bin Laden. Such potential ties have been investigated thoroughly by the U.S. government and found not to exist. The same applies to the Saudi Arabian royal family. We cannot condemn U.S. companies for having interactions with that part of the world, because to do so would be to claim, if indirectly, that all Middle Easterners contribute to terrorism.

In addition, by associating Mr. Rubenstein only with the false allegations that have been made about The Carlyle Group, Wolf has neglected to show the benefits of having a man like Mr. Rubenstein involved in our public policy program.

First and foremost, Mr. Rubenstein is a highly successful international businessman who has navigated his company through a turbulent and highly volatile global landscape for the past decade and a half. Prior to that, he worked extensively with the Carter administration as a policy advisor in the White House. The perspective he could bring to Duke’s program would be tremendously valuable.

It disappointed me to see a student buying into such a frivolous hoax. While Duke may have concerns about its public image, rejecting a candidate based on hearsay from a poorly researched pop-documentary would make us appear foolish and insecure. And lets see how we all like it when Mr. Rubenstein takes his reputation, and his money, to Harvard next time, the university that his daughter currently attends.