Hot debate over Taliban student at Yale

[deadparrot]

EW HAVEN, Conn., May 4 (UPI) -- Yale University is feeling increased pressure over the presence on campus of a student with a Taliban past.

The student, Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, 27, identified by The New York Times as a roving ambassador for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, has been taking non-degree courses at Yale since the summer. He has applied for admission to a degree-granting program.

Yale has been the subject of intense debate in publications and on TV and Web sites, including criticism by some families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Some students and professors, however, support his presence as mutually beneficial.

Now, Yale must decide on the question of admitting him to a degree-granting program and the debate rages anew.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060504-103955-6876r

[madrchsod]

1. ? the taliban had nothing to do with 9/11

they were fucking insane but they didn`t have nothing to do with 9/11. that was saudi arabians and ben boy...

[pocket]

3. they supposedly gave bin laden use of their country as a base

this is of course the version of the story where bin laden is not a CIA agent.

[ovidsen]

2. Cribbed from the pages of todays NY Times

Still a good story. The Taliban wasn't directly behind 9/11, but it did give Osama & Co. cover.

A student at Yale University who was once a roving ambassador for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has applied for admission to a degree-granting program, putting new pressure on university officials in an emotionally charged political debate over his presence at Yale.

And do keep in mind that the student in question here was defending some rather brutal policies when he was a Taliban honcho, especially regarding women, religion, and political dissent. I'd like to hear the guy at least say he's had second thoughts about that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/nyregion/04yale.html?ex=1146888000&en=30b65bbdfeba1a39&ei=5087%0A

[Ian David]

4. Will he be admitted to Skull and Bones? n/t

[fujiyama]

5. Wouldn't be surprised

if this guy already is connected to Carlyle or the Bush family already somehow.

Either way, it speaks volumes about Yale's admission standards if they let this guy in for an actual degree granting program. I remember him making excuses for the Taliban's destruction of the Buddha statues. That fucker shouldn't even be in this country.

Meanwhile congress is worried about Latinos working their asses off for shit pay...and this piece of shit creeps through and can be a "student".

What a fucked up system we have.

[KamaAina]

6. Back in my day, we had a student from mainland China

this was in the early '80s, so that was still uncommon and somewhat controversial. Ke Gang, though, just went about his business and studied too hard like any other Yalie (except George W. Bush DC'68). He did not recite passages from the Little Red Book in the Saybrook College dining hall or anything like that. It enhances the Yale experience to have students around from as many different backgrounds as can find.

That being said, I wonder if this guy is prepared for a pluralistic campus environment in which women attend class alongside men -- without burqas -- and where gay and lesbian students are fully accepted by all but a tiny fringe of the radical right. Too, Yale has an active Jewish presence, though I understand Mr. Hashemi has been eating at the Kosher Kitchen because it is as close as he can get to halal food! If I were on the admissions committee, that would work in his favor.

Aside: Like Mr. Hashemi, I first experienced Yale through the Special Students Program, when I was enrolled at the nearby University of New Haven. If he succeeds in transferring into Yale College, he would be following in my footsteps!

K-A, SY'85

[Chrisduhfur]

7. I don't really understand why.

I don't really understand why this guy is there. Not because of any political reasons but, rather, because he doesn't have any education. From what I understand he has maybe what is equal to a 4th grade education in the US. So, why is he even at a university that is supposed to be sooo prestigious? Or maybe I am totally thinking Yale is different than it is.