To the Editors of The Crimson:

Mike Barnicle's opinion of me is relevant only to the credibility of his factual assertions about me. He has taken every opportunity over the past several years to take cheap shots at me and every other civil libertarian in town.

In light of our mutual hostility, can anyone really believe that I would walk up to him in the middle of Harvard Square and confide in him (some bizarre) sexual fantasy.

I have had only one conversation with Barnicle--in front of two witnesses, who both remember it for its coolness and brevity. It did not include any discussion of "Asian women." I would never utter--or think--the kind of racist, sexist perverted slur Barnicle attributed to me. Barnicle made up the entire story, as he well knows, in order to demonstrate his point that it is easy to take a cheap shot at a public figure.

I challenge him to name the alleged witness to our conversation, to specify when it was supposed to have taken place, and to produce his notes of what he claims is a word-for-word quote. When he refuses to do so, he should apologize for publishing an invented racist and sexist remark. Alan M. Dershowitz   Professor of Law