However, the professor was defended by many advocates of Afrocentric education who characterized criticism of his stance as indicative of anti-black racism.

Jaafari has characterized criticism of his daughter as 'somebody ... seeking to get to the Syrian ambassador' through her, as his daughter holds a tenuous United States visa.

To the Editor: In "Art by Committee" (Op-Ed, Sept. 21) Lynne A. Munson continues the special pleading, argument by anecdote and guilt by association that have characterized most criticism of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Skousen authored a pamphlet titled The Communist Attack on the John Birch Society, characterizing criticism of the Society as incipient communism.

Mr. Simmons voted to go to war in Iraq and, despite the subsequent debacle, characterizes Democratic criticism with hackneyed warnings about "cutting and running."

The work is theoretically sophisticated, but Miller's playful, engaging style has been praised for avoiding the turgidity and pretentious jargon that have characterized much academic literary criticism in recent decades.

In a recent interview, Mr. Lehman characterized such criticism as the kind of knee-jerk reaction from museum traditionalists and elitists that has kept the Brooklyn Museum in limbo for decades.

"A bum rap," was how Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld characterized criticism of the military.

Mr. Snyder characterized criticism of his compensation as petty, saying his pay was commensurate with the challenge facing him.

To the Editor: You note in "Ambitious Bush Plan Is Undone by Energy Politics" (news article, Aug. 20) that Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director, characterizes criticism of the secrecy surrounding the administration's energy task force as "people focused on the process and not the substance."