Opinion

Truly super


It is very easy to rate Superman as a shallow character, as a persona very hard to empathize with or as just a Boy Scout and nothing else (“In Praise of Being Super,” Dan Greenfield, PostScript, June 2).

It’s very uncommon to see a piece in the media that I actually like regarding Superman. People see him as a bland character just because he is essentially an all-powerful good guy. I just don’t see it as a bad thing.

Greenfield got who Superman is, what he stands for and why he is a great fictional character.

I believe that the ultimate square-jawed square has a place in the 21st century, because, when you get down to it, Superman isn’t about who we are — he’s about who we should be.

Marc Nunes, Lisbon, Portugal

‘Path’ to union win

The CUNY faculty union — well-known for opposing any and all initiatives proposed by outgoing Chancellor Matthew Goldstein — didn’t tell New Yorkers about the misleading way it conducted its anti-Pathways referendum (“CUNY On War ‘Path’,” June 2).

The ballots originally identified the professor’s name, risking retaliation to those who crossed the union. Ballot language presented only the union’s arguments against Pathways, with nothing from the other side, while a paid organizer contacted professors urging them to oppose the administration. Even then, a small minority opposed the union, while 40 percent of faculty members didn’t vote at all.

So, in a contest rigged from the start, only a bare majority of professors actually endorsed the union’s position. Given such anti-democratic tactics, the union’s results should receive no weight.

KC Johnson, professor of history, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn

Dubious scores

As a retired teacher with 30 years in the NYC public-school system, I think I’m in a reasonably good position to assess the supposedly “Stunning Regents Reversal” (June 6) at Brownsville Academy High School.

This is a school in an economically depressed area, with a student body that is largely academically deficient. Yet, in just a few years’ time, the scores on the Regents exams soared dramatically — in some cases, more than doubling.

I seriously doubt that smaller classes, full-day Saturday prep classes and teachers who meticulously stay on topic until everyone picks it up can account for the dramatic result described in the story.

Given this “jaw-dropping” development, why did the principal and several teachers fail to respond when they were asked for comment?

D. Shapiro, Palm Beach, Fla.

MIA women

I am truly disgusted and appalled to see just how spineless Gov. Cuomo has been when it comes to handling the criminal behavior of Vito Lopez and all of the other sexual miscreants in Albany and in the Democratic Party, past and present (“Shelly’s Silent Ladies,” Editorial, June 2).

It is obvious to any rational person that Shelly Silver has everyone in upstate New York quaking in their boots. He knows he is in charge — lock, stock and barrel.

The Democratic women who have remained silent should be ashamed. Christine Quinn, the female steamroller, where art thou? Why are they not demanding that Silver resign and Lopez be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law?

I forgot — only the Republicans have a longstanding war on women.

Maureen Brown, Manhattan