backing down

The Times reports that Brinkley will not impose the penalties outlined in his memo.

Eric Foner, a history professor who is a friend
of the provost, said he considered the proposals in the memo outrageous but did
not believe they represented Dr. Brinkley's personal views.
Professor Foner
said that when Dr. Brinkley was chairman of the history department, before
becoming provost, he strongly opposed any kind of punishment for striking
students.
Dr. Brinkley said that the ideas he had put into the memo had grown
out of conversations among members of his working group and others and that they
had been assembled in a memo he sent out to make further conversation
easier.