$250,000. Otherwise known as a quarter of a million dollars. What could a person do with this kind of cash? Take a vacation, buy a new car, put some of it away. One problem- how do you find this sort of money? No problem; just line up a nationally televised debate between the Committee for the Open Debate of the Holocaust (CODOH) and the Anti-Defamation League. Yup, that's all. An advertisement for this sort of thing appeared in the Parthenon October 6. At first, I thought "who let this into the paper?" But I do recall learning something in my history class at some point in junior high school. Something about the First Amendment protecting a person's freedom of speech. On this end, I feel some ludicrous things were said in the advertisement. Were gas chambers used during World War II and is The Diary of Anne Frank a literary concoction, were just two of the issues raised. Have we all seen or at least heard of Schindler's List? The movie was intended to depict what really happened in European concentration camps. Three days later, a letter to the editor was written, asking on what basis advertisements are placed in The Parthenon. Like it or not, people have the right to express themselves and that's what the editors of The Parthenon let happen. As a media source, it's the paper's duty to encourage public debate, no matter how outrageous CODOH's proposal may have sounded. Two weeks ago, the same CODOH ad ran again. So of course, the same people who wrote the first letter to the editor struck again. In their second letter, Professor Donna Pasternak and Stanley Shulfer feel that the material is patently offensive material to the Jewish community. As a person of the Jewish faith, I absolutely 100 percent agree. I also fully agree with The Parthenon's stance on printing it a second time and if they wish, a 53rd time. I found it quite disheartening to see that other universities refused to print the advertisement. As crazy as the ad was, those communities were being sheltered by not showing them what was going on in their world. I'm very fortunate that I didn't have any relatives who perished in the Holocaust. Yes, contrary to CODOH's ad, it really did happen: gas chambers, crematories, concentration camps. Maybe somebody should step up and take the $250,000 to get the debate going. The debate's topic should be how could such a terrible thing have ever happened. Come to think of it, no matter what ends up being discussed, it'll be just fine with me; everyone will have their fair say, just the way our forefathers intended it to be for us today. Dan Newman is a columnist for The Parthenon. He can be reached at 696-6696.