"What Muslim Women Want?" by Geneive Abdo and Dalia Mogahed, The Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2006; Page A18 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116597643672848516.html?mod=opinion&ojcontent=otep
Shariah literally means "the road to water," and represents the moral compass of a Muslim's personal and public life. Historically, the principles of Shariah could be used to limit the power of the sultan; after all, he would never claim he was above God's law. Therefore, when Muslims call for Shariah and gender equality, both are calls for the rule of law and an end to inequality. In many countries, Muslims are calling for the application of Shariah because even when the constitution states that Shariah is the primary basis of law, in practice, this is not enforced by officially secular governments.
Among the women surveyed in our poll, Egyptian women are most likely to believe Shariah should be the primary source of legislation: 62% say it should be the only source of law, and 28% say it should be a source, but not the only source. In nearly every country surveyed, aside from officially secular Turkey, a majority of women say Islamic law should either be the primary source of legislation or a source.
For decades, the role of women in Islamic societies has provided one of the primary battlegrounds in the cultural war between East and West. As a result, Muslim women have been placed in two artificial and mutually exclusive categories: Modern and secular or religious and traditional -- even backward. The assumption is that, although the numbers of women choosing to veil in Egypt and elsewhere are growing, this trend is a result of either ignorance or women surrendering to pressure from their husbands or fathers.
In contrast to the popular wisdom that women are content even if they believe they are second-class citizens, Gallup's survey found that women in the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed believe they should have equal legal rights as men, from voting rights to employment opportunities and access to the highest posts in government. Some 83% of Iranian women, for example, say women should be able to hold leadership positions in the cabinet and national council. Still, when the same Iranian women were asked the Shariah question, 66% said Islamic law should be a source, and 14% said the sole source, of legislation.
Majorities of Muslim women also say that religion is an important part of their daily lives. When asked to associate descriptions with the Islamic world, the most often chosen statement among men and women was "attachment to their spiritual and moral values is crucial to progress." When asked an open-ended question about what they admire most about their own societies the most frequent response was "people's attachment to the teachings of Islam."
These findings muddy the oversimplified debate that posits religion against modernity, and they reflect a trend in Islamic societies that is gaining momentum: While Muslim women favor gender equality, they do not favor wholesale adoption of Western cultural values. Instead, they want to pick and choose which aspects of the West and the East will form the basis of their lives.
This trend is evident among the rich and famous Egyptian movie stars who have opted for a veiled life off the screen. Egypt's stars are powerful cultural icons, and it was their recent testimonials of embracing Islam and leaving behind their lives in the fast lane that were a factor in Farouk Hosni's remarks. As more and more prominent women in Egypt have announced publicly their desire to wear headscarves, the public debate in the country has become more heated.
As Muslim women try to reconcile religion with modernity, a few clerics are helping them along the way. Amr Khaled, arguably the most popular television preacher in the Arab world, has become the guardian for Muslim youth and educated women who are embracing Islam. With the business suits (not clerical robes) he wears for sermons and a London address, Amr Khaled has found a third way between secular liberalism and radical Islam. Through his teaching, he has attracted millions of followers much like Enas, a fashion-conscious member of Egypt's affluent class. After listening to Amr Khaled, she was "awakened spiritually" and then began wearing the hijab. "Our image of Islam used to be that it was only for poor people, old fashioned people who wore white galabyias [long traditional tunics] and had scruffy beards, not the chic upper class," says Enas. "By listening to Amr, I realized how much my life was missing without a focus on God."
The young Egyptian, who has a doctorate in pharmacy, is now pursuing a degree in Shariah studies. "Because our laws are not based on Shariah today, injustice and corruption are rampant. I wanted to study Shariah," she says, "to teach the young people so the next generation would be better than the current one -- so our country would progress."
Ms. Abdo and Ms. Mogahed are, respectively, senior analyst at, and executive director of, the Center for Muslim Studies at the Gallup Organization.
Report on the Taliban's War Against Women Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor November 17, 2001 --- http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/6185.htm
Prior to the rise of the Taliban, women in Afghanistan were protected under law and increasingly afforded rights in Afghan society. Women received the right to vote in the 1920s; and as early as the 1960s, the Afghan constitution provided for equality for women. There was a mood of tolerance and openness as the country began moving toward democracy. Women were making important contributions to national development. In 1977, women comprised over 15% of Afghanistan's highest legislative body. It is estimated that by the early 1990s, 70% of schoolteachers, 50% of government workers and university students, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women. Afghan women had been active in humanitarian relief organizations until the Taliban imposed severe restrictions on their ability to work. These professional women provide a pool of talent and expertise that will be needed in the reconstruction of post-Taliban Afghanistan.
Islam has a tradition of protecting the rights of women and children. In fact, Islam has specific provisions which define the rights of women in areas such as marriage, divorce, and property rights. The Taliban's version of Islam is not supported by the world's Muslims. Although the Taliban claimed that it was acting in the best interests of women, the truth is that the Taliban regime cruelly reduced women and girls to poverty, worsened their health, and deprived them of their right to an education, and many times the right to practice their religion. The Taliban is out of step with the Muslim world and with Islam.
Afghanistan under the Taliban had one of the worst human rights records in the world. The regime systematically repressed all sectors of the population and denied even the most basic individual rights. Yet the Taliban's war against women was particularly appalling.
Women are imprisoned in their homes, and are denied access to basic health care and education. Food sent to help starving people is stolen by their leaders. The religious monuments of other faiths are destroyed. Children are forbidden to fly kites, or sing songs... A girl of seven is beaten for wearing white shoes.
-- President George W. Bush, Remarks to the Warsaw Conference on Combating Terrorism, November 6, 2001The Taliban first became prominent in 1994 and took over the Afghan capital, Kabul, in 1996. The takeover followed over 20 years of civil war and political instability. Initially, some hoped that the Taliban would provide stability to the country. However, it soon imposed a strict and oppressive order based on its misinterpretation of Islamic law.
The assault on the status of women began immediately after the Taliban took power in Kabul. The Taliban closed the women's university and forced nearly all women to quit their jobs, closing down an important source of talent and expertise for the country. It restricted access to medical care for women, brutally enforced a restrictive dress code, and limited the ability of women to move about the city.
The Taliban perpetrated egregious acts of violence against women, including rape, abduction, and forced marriage. Some families resorted to sending their daughters to Pakistan or Iran to protect them.
Afghan women living under the Taliban virtually had the world of work closed to them. Forced to quit their jobs as teachers, doctors, nurses, and clerical workers when the Taliban took over, women could work only in very limited circumstances. A tremendous asset was lost to a society that desperately needed trained professionals.
As many as 50,000 women, who had lost husbands and other male relatives during Afghanistan's long civil war, had no source of income. Many were reduced to selling all of their possessions and begging in the streets, or worse, to feed their families.
Denied Education and Health Care
Restricting women's access to work is an attack on women today. Eliminating women's access to education is an assault on women tomorrow.The Taliban ended, for all practical purposes, education for girls. Since 1998, girls over the age of eight have been prohibited from attending school. Home schooling, while sometimes tolerated, was more often repressed. Last year, the Taliban jailed and then deported a female foreign aid worker who had promoted home-based work for women and home schools for girls. The Taliban prohibited women from studying at Kabul University.
"The Taliban has clamped down on knowledge and ignorance is ruling instead."
-- Sadriqa, a 22-year-old woman in KabulAs a result of these measures, the Taliban was ensuring that women would continue to sink deeper into poverty and deprivation, thereby guaranteeing that tomorrow's women would have none of the skills needed to function in a modern society.
Under Taliban rule, women were given only the most rudimentary access to health care and medical care, thereby endangering the health of women, and in turn, their families. In most hospitals, male physicians could only examine a female patient if she were fully clothed, ruling out the possibility of meaningful diagnosis and treatment.
These Taliban regulations led to a lack of adequate medical care for women and contributed to increased suffering and higher mortality rates. Afghanistan has the world's second worst rate of maternal death during childbirth. About 16 out of every 100 women die giving birth.
Inadequate medical care for women also meant poor medical care and a high mortality rate for Afghan children. Afghanistan has one of the world's highest rates of infant and child mortality. According to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), 165 of every 1000 babies die before their first birthday.
Further hampering health, the Taliban destroyed public education posters and other health information. This left many women, in a society already plagued by massive illiteracy, without basic health care information.
In May 2001, the Taliban raided and temporarily closed a foreign-funded hospital in Kabul because male and female staff allegedly mixed in the dining room and operating wards. It is significant to note that approximately 70% of health services had been provided by international relief organizations -- further highlighting the Taliban's general disregard for the welfare of the Afghan people.
"The life of Afghan women is so bad. We are locked at home and cannot see the sun."
-- Nageeba, a 35-year-old widow in KabulThe Taliban also required that windows of houses be painted over to prevent outsiders from possibly seeing women inside homes, further isolating women who once led productive lives and contributing to a rise in mental health problems. Physicians for Human Rights reports high rates of depression and suicide among Afghan women. One European physician reported many cases of burns in the esophagus as the result of women swallowing battery acid or household cleaners--a cheap, if painful, method of suicide.
Fettered by Restrictions on Movement
In urban areas, the Taliban brutally enforced a dress code that required women to be covered under a burqa -- a voluminous, tent-like full-body outer garment that covers them from head to toe. One Anglo-Afghan journalist reported that the burqa's veil is so thick that the wearer finds it difficult to breathe; the small mesh panel permitted for seeing allows such limited vision that even crossing the street safely is difficult.While the burqa existed prior to the Taliban, its use was not required. As elsewhere in the Muslim world and the United States, women chose to use the burqa as a matter of individual religious or personal preference. In Afghanistan, however, the Taliban enforced the wearing of the burqa with threats, fines, and on-the-spot beatings. Even the accidental showing of the feet or ankles was severely punished. No exceptions were allowed. One woman who became violently carsick was not permitted to take off the garment. When paying for food in the market, a woman's hand could not show when handing over money or receiving the purchase. Even girls as young as eight or nine years old were expected to wear the burqa.
The fate of women in Afghanistan is infamous and intolerable. The burqa that imprisons them is a cloth prison, but it is above all a moral prison. The torture imposed on little girls who dare to show their ankles or their polished nails is appalling. It is unacceptable and insupportable.
-- King Mohammed VI of MoroccoThe burqa is not only a physical and psychological burden on some Afghan women, it is a significant economic burden as well. Many women cannot afford the cost of one. In some cases, whole neighborhoods share a single garment, and women must wait days for their turn to go out. For disabled women who need a prosthesis or other aid to walk, the required wearing of the burqa makes them virtually homebound if they cannot get the burqa over the prosthesis or other aid, or use the device effectively when wearing the burqa.
Restrictions on clothing are matched with other limitations on personal adornment. Makeup and nail polish were prohibited. White socks were also prohibited, as were shoes that make noise as it had been deemed that women should walk silently.
Even when dressed according to the Taliban rules, women were severely restricted in their movement. Women were permitted to go out only when accompanied by male relatives or risk Taliban beatings. Women could not use public taxis without accompanying male relatives, and taxi drivers risked losing their licenses or beatings if they took unescorted female passengers. Women could only use special buses set aside for their use, and these buses had their windows draped with thick curtains so that no one on the street could see the women passengers.
One woman who was caught with an unrelated man in the street was publicly flogged with 100 lashes, in a stadium full of people. She was lucky. If she had been married, and found with an unrelated male, the punishment would have been death by stoning. Such is the Taliban's perversion of justice, which also includes swift summary trials, public amputations and executions.
Violation of Basic Rights
The Taliban claimed it was trying to ensure a society in which women had a safe and dignified role. But the facts show the opposite. Women were stripped of their dignity under the Taliban. They were made unable to support their families. Girls were deprived of basic health care and of any semblance of schooling. They were even deprived of their childhood under a regime that took away their songs, their dolls, and their stuffed animals -- all banned by the Taliban.The Amman Declaration (1996) of the World Health Organization cites strong authority within Islamic law and traditions that support the right to education for both girls and boys as well as the right to earn a living and participate in public life.
Indeed, the Taliban's discriminatory policies violate many of the basic principles of international human rights law. These rights include the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly, the right to work, the right to education, freedom of movement, and the right to health care. What is more, as Human Rights Watch has noted, �the discrimination [that Afghan women face] is cumulative and so overwhelming that it is literally life threatening for many Afghan women.� This assault on the role of women has not been dictated by the history and social mores of Afghanistan as the Taliban claim.
Nor are the Taliban's restrictions on women in line with the reality in other Muslim countries. Women are serving as President of Indonesia and Prime Minister of Bangladesh. There are women government ministers in Arab countries and in other Muslim countries. Women have the right to vote in Muslim countries such as Qatar, Iran, and Bahrain. Throughout the Muslim world, women fill countless positions as doctors, teachers, journalists, judges, business people, diplomats, and other professionals.
A large and increasing number of women students ensures that in the years to come, women will continue to make an important contribution to the development of their societies. In Saudi Arabia, for example, more than half the university student body is female. Although Muslim societies differ among themselves on the status of women and the roles they should play, Islam is a religion that respects women and humanity. The Taliban respects neither.
The long years of war and instability in Afghanistan have resulted in massive numbers of displaced persons internally and in neighboring countries. There are approximately 1.1 million internally displaced persons. An estimated 3.5 million Afghans have fled to Pakistan, 1.5 million to Iran, and hundreds of thousands more scattered throughout the border regions. Moreover, Taliban looting of humanitarian relief organizations contributed to the increased numbers seeking refuge abroad. Afghan women and children make up the overwhelming majority of the refugee population dependent on international assistance.
Afghan civil society and community-based activists are working hard to begin reconstructing their society in refugee camps, in preparation for the day when they can reclaim and rebuild their own country. Women have played an important role in these efforts, both in refugee settlements and--clandestinely--in communities in Afghanistan. These women and men, says Sima Wali, an Afghan woman who directs the non-profit organization Refugee Women in Development, have already demonstrated remarkable leadership and ability. They are our hope for Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan ... the disrespect of human rights has acquired extreme dimensions. Overall, women in Afghanistan are basically not treated as people.... To overcome this, one needs to develop specific gender-oriented programs that would include, primarily and first of all, questions related to proper education for women.
Taliban Rule No. 24 forbids anyone to work as a
teacher "under the current puppet regime, because this strengthens the system of
the infidels." One rule later, No. 25, says teachers who ignore Taliban warnings
will be killed. Taliban militants early Saturday broke into a house in the
eastern province of Kunar, killing a family of five, including two sisters who
were teachers.
Jason Straziuso, "New Taliban rules
target Afghan teachers," Yahoo News, December 9, 2006 ---
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061209/ap_on_re_as/afghan_taliban_rules
Jensen Comment
The Taliban also prohibits teaching females to read and write.
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) --- http://www.rawa.org/
Iranian (Persian) Women ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Woman
Also see "Web Gives Voice to Iranian Women" ---
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2044802.stm
Everywoman is a
weekly magazine studio based show for women, presented by Shahnaz Pakravan.
On Everywoman we are uncompromising in our approach and
dig deeper to uncover the stories that women want told. Everywoman is the first
show of its kind out of this region and is essential viewing to half the world’s
population and you men won’t want to miss it either.
Al Jazeera, December 14, 2006 ---
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/29F5AFF4-711B-49B8-8458-3533B57430A4.htm
In India, abortion is not gender neutral
Ten million girls have been killed by their parents in
India in the past 20 years, either before they were born or immediately after, a
government minister said on Thursday, describing it as a "national crisis" . . .
A UNICEF report released this week said 7,000 fewer girls are born in the
country every day than the global average would suggest, largely because female
foetuses are aborted after sex determination tests but also through murder of
new borns.
Palash Kumar, "India has killed 10 mln girls in 20 years," Yahoo News,
December 154 2006 ---
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061214/india_nm/india280322
Women Geeks
A new book showcases the lives of women in science,
technology, gaming and other nerdy pursuits.
"She's Such a Geek!" Wired News, December 15, 2006 ---
http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2006/12/shes_such_a_gee.html
The Amazon Link --- Click Here
Question
Why Aren’t More Women in Science?
The year 2006 may be remembered for unprecedented
attention given to issues related to women in science. Numerous expert panels —
most notably one
appointed by the National Academies — examined
barriers facing female scientists. A new collection published by the American
Psychological Association aims to add to the knowledge base.
Why Aren’t
More Women in Science: Top Researchers Debate the Evidence,
features essays on both biological and societal
explanations. The editors Stephen J. Ceci, a professor of developmental
psychology at Cornell University, and Wendy M. Williams, a professor of human
development at Cornell. Ceci and Williams responded to questions about the new
collection.
Scott Jaschik, "‘Why Aren’t More Women in Science?’" Inside Higher Ed,
January 3, 2006 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/03/women
Screwed: The Spine as an Insider Profit Center
But there have been serious questions about how much
the surgery actually helps patients with back pain and whether surgeons’
generous fees might motivate them to overuse the procedure. Those concerns are
now heightened by a growing trend among some surgeons to profit in yet another
way — by investing in companies that make screws and other hardware they
install. The parts can be highly profitable. A single screw that goes into the
spine, for example, sells for about $1,000 — at least 10 times the cost of
making it.
Reed Abelson, "The Spine as Profit Center," The New York Times, December
30, 2006 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/business/30spine.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Question
Where were (are) the lawyers in the recent corporate governance and investment
scandals?
Report of the Task Force on the Lawyer's Role in Corporate Governance, New York City Bar, November 2006 --- http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJ-CORP-GOV-FINAL_REPORT.pdf
Bob Jensen's "Rotten to the Core" threads are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on corporate governance are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud001.htm#Governance
A Dramatic Proposal for Change in Humanities Education
A panel of some of the top professors of foreign
languages has concluded that the programs that train undergraduate majors and
new Ph.D.’s are seriously off course, with so much emphasis on literature that
broader understanding of cultures and nations has been lost . . . The
implications of this call for change are, several panel members said,
“revolutionary” and potentially quite controversial. For example, the measures
being called for directly challenge the tradition in which first and second-year
language instruction is left in many departments to lecturers, who frequently
play little role in setting curricular policy. The panel wants to see
tenure-track professors more involved in all parts of undergraduate education
and — in a challenge to the hierarchy of many departments — wants departments to
include lecturers who are off the tenure track in planning the changes and
carrying them out.
Scott Jaschik, "Dramatic Plan for Language Programs," Inside Higher Ed,
January 2, 2006 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/02/languages
Bob Jensen's threads on "Rethinking Tenure, Dissertations, and Scholarship in Humanities" are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#MLA
Microsoft's CALCULATOR + GETS AN F–
The September column (Journal of
Accountancy, page 83) featured an item on
Microsoft’s new Calculator Plus, a free product that should have been renamed
“Calculator Minus” or “Not Yet Ready for Prime Time.” The idea behind the
product is superb: a handy little popup program that contains both a regular and
scientific calculator and all sorts of conversion functions such as
international currencies, volumes, weights and temperatures. As it turns out,
this jack-of-all-tools cannot handle all the jobs it claims it can. An
Edit function is suppose to expand the
range of tools—for example, add a wide selection of currencies for rate
conversion—but it provides more frustration than conversions. I apologize for
not investigating the product further before recommending it.
Stanley Zarowin, Journal of Accountancy, January 2007 ---
http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/jan2007/tech_qa.htm#CALCULATOR
How students can find internships
Helpers for managing student interns
Intern Toolkit ---
http://www.interntoolkit.com/
Bob Jensen's tools of the trade helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm
A New Law to Encourage Whistle Blowing
"At Hospitals, Lessons in Detection of Fraud," by Robert Pear, The New York Times, December 24, 2006 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/us/24fraud.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Most of the nation’s hospitals and nursing homes will have to teach their employees how to ferret out fraud and report it to the government under a federal law that takes effect next month.
The law encourages people in the health care industry to blow the whistle on their employers. Many health care providers said this week that they were unaware of the requirement, and when informed of it, they described it as a burdensome, potentially costly federal mandate.
But Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who drafted the law, said it would help ensure that “taxpayer dollars are used to provide care for the most vulnerable people and not to line the pockets of those who seek to defraud the government.”
Starting Jan. 1, companies that do at least $5 million a year in Medicaid business must educate all employees and officers on how to detect fraud, waste and abuse. Moreover, health care providers must tell employees that if they report fraud, they will be protected against retaliation and may be entitled to a share of money recovered by the government.
Under the federal False Claims Act, some whistle-blowers have received millions of dollars in rewards for disclosing large-scale fraud.
Health care providers must also establish policies to make sure that their contractors investigate and report fraud. A large hospital system, whether run by a Fortune 500 company or a group of Roman Catholic nuns, typically has hundreds of contracts with doctors, billing agents and other vendors.
The new requirement will also apply to many pharmacies, health maintenance organizations, home care agencies, suppliers of medical equipment, physician groups and drug manufacturers.
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on whistle blowing are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#WhistleBlowing
Columbia Charges Students With Violating Protest Rules
Columbia University said yesterday that it had notified
students involved in disrupting a program of speakers in early October that they
were being charged with violating rules of university conduct governing
demonstrations. The university did not disclose the number of students charged
with violations. Columbia’s president, Lee C. Bollinger, announced the
disciplinary proceedings in a letter to the university community yesterday that
was also released publicly. But he said he would not provide further details
because of federal rules governing student privacy. The charges will be heard
next semester by the deans of the individual schools the students are enrolled
in. Possible sanctions include disciplinary warning, censure, suspension and
dismissal.
Karen W. Arenson, "Columbia Charges Students With Violating Protest Rules,"
The New York Times, December 23, 2006 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/23/nyregion/23columbia.html
Jensen Comment
Since the protestors who disrupted and frightened the speakers are totally
non-repentant, it will be interesting to see how this plays out at Columbia.
"A Firm Stance: CU Marine Reservist Targeted In Angry Confrontation; No Disciplinary Action Taken," by Laura Brunts, Columbia Spectator, January 26, 2006 --- Click Here
At last fall's annual activities fair, Marine reservist Matt Sanchez, GS '07, got into an argument with several members of the International Socialist Organization and later filed a harassment complaint against three students.
More than three months later, the administration responded with a letter apologizing for the incident but took no disciplinary action. Realizing that he would get no public response from Columbia, Sanchez took his story to the press last week in an interview with FOX News.
The incident has provoked concern from members of Columbia's military community about what some see as a widespread anti-military attitude, and it raises questions about the University's anti-discrimination policy.
On Club Day, Zach Zill, CC '06, Monique Dols, GS '06, and Jonah Birch, CC '05, approached the table for the Columbia Military Society-a Student Governing Board-recognized group for Columbia students in Fordham's ROTC program-because they heard it was being used for ROTC recruitment, which is not allowed on campus.
"We went there to voice our disagreement with the fact that they were there and pick up some of their fliers," Dols said.
Sanchez stopped by the table soon after and entered the debate. In the course of the argument, Zill asserted that the military "uses minorities as cannon fodder," Sanchez said.
"My last name is Sanchez. I'm Puerto Rican. I'm a minority. Zach Zill is blonde and blue-eyed. I said, 'Look, I'm a minority. I know I enlisted; I don't feel like I'm being used at all,'" Sanchez said. "[Zill] said, 'Well, you're too stupid to know that you're being used.'"
Mark Xue, CC '06, a Marine officer candidate and president of the society, was also at the table and confirmed Sanchez's accusations.
"They were telling him that he was stupid and ignorant, that he was being brainwashed and used for being a minority in the military," Xue said. "Regardless of what you think about military recruiters, those comments were racially motivated."
Continued in article
From Columbia University
Having wreaked havoc onstage, the students unrolled a banner that read, in both
Arabic and English, "No one is ever illegal."
"At Columbia, Students Attack Minuteman Founder," by Eliana Johnson, The New York Sun, October 4, 2006 --- http://www.nysun.com/article/40983
Students stormed the stage at Columbia University's Roone auditorium yesterday, knocking over chairs and tables and attacking Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the border between America and Mexico.
Mr. Gilchrist and Marvin Stewart, another member of his group, were in the process of giving a speech at the invitation of the Columbia College Republicans. They were escorted off the stage unharmed and exited the auditorium by a back door.
Having wreaked havoc onstage, the students unrolled a banner that read, in both Arabic and English, "No one is ever illegal." As security guards closed the curtains and began escorting people from the auditorium, the students jumped from the stage, pumping their fists, chanting victoriously, "Si se pudo, si se pudo," Spanish for "Yes we could!"
The Minuteman Project, an organization of volunteers founded in 2004 by Mr. Gilchrist, aims to keep illegal immigrants out of America by alerting law enforcement officials when they attempt to cross the border. The group uses fiery language and unorthodox tactics to advance its platform. "Future generations will inherit a tangle of rancorous, unassimilated, squabbling cultures with no common bond to hold them together, and a certain guarantee of the death of this nation as a harmonious ‘melting pot,'" the group's Web site warns.
The pandemonium that ensued as the evening's keynote speaker took the stage was merely the climax of protest that brewed all week. A number of campus groups, including the Chicano caucus, the African-American student organization, and the International Socialist organization, began planning their protests early this week when they heard that the Minutemen would be arriving on campus.
The student protesters, who attended the event clad in white as a sign of dissent, booed and shouted the speakers down throughout. They interrupted Mr. Stewart, who is African-American, when he referred to the Declaration of Independence's self-evident truth that "All men are created equal," calling him a racist, a sellout, and a black white supremacist.
A student's demand that Mr. Stewart speak in Spanish elicited thundering applause and brought the protesters to their feet. The protesters remained standing, turned their backs on Mr. Stewart for the remainder of his remarks, and drowned him out by chanting, "Wrap it up, wrap it up!" Mr. Stewart appeared unfazed by their behavior. He simply smiled and bellowed, "No wonder you don't know what you're talking about."
"These are racist individuals heading a project that terrorizes immigrants on the U.S.-Mexican border," Ryan Fukumori, a Columbia junior who took part in the protest, told The New York Sun. "They have no right to be able to speak here."
The student protesters "rush to vindicate themselves with monikers like ‘liberal' and ‘open-minded,' but their actions, their attempt to condemn the Minutemen without even hearing what they have to say, speak otherwise," the president of the Columbia College Republicans, Chris Kulawik, said. On campus, the Republicans' flyers advertising the event were defaced and torn down.
The College Republicans expressed their concern about the lack of free speech for opposing viewpoints on the Columbia campus in the wake of the evening's events. "We've often feared that there's not freedom of speech at Columbia for more right-wing views — and that was proven tonight," the executive director of the Columbia College Republicans, Lauren Steinberg, said.
The Minutemen's arrival at Columbia drew protesters from around the city as well. An hour before Messrs. Stewart and Mr. Gilchrist took the stage, rowdy protests began outside the auditorium on Broadway, where activists chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the Minutemen have got to go!"
Continued in article
Mr. Bollinger (President of Columbia
University), a legal scholar whose specialty is free
speech and the First Amendment, quickly condemned this week’s disruption.
“Students and faculty have rights to invite speakers to the campus,” he said
yesterday in an interview. “Others have rights to hear them. Those who wish to
protest have rights to do so. No one, however, shall have the right or the power
to use the cover of protest to silence speakers.” He added, “There is a vast
difference between reasonable protest that allows a speaker to continue, and
protest that makes it impossible for speech to continue.”
Karen W. Arenson and Damien Cave, "Silencing of a Speech Causes a Furor," The
New York Times, October 7, 2006 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/07/nyregion/07columbia.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
With Columbia University again under fire over
speech issues, the president is condemning anyone who prevents another’s speech
from taking place. On Wednesday, protesters stormed a stage where Jim Gilchrist,
head of the Minuteman Project, a “vigilance operation” opposing illegal
immigration, was speaking, forcing him to stop his talk. Lee C. Bollinger,
Columbia’s president, pledged that the university would investigate the incident
and procedures for making sure that speakers can give their talks. In
a statement, he said: “This is not a complicated
issue. Students and faculty have rights to invite speakers to the campus. Others
have rights to hear them. Those who wish to protest have rights to do so. No
one, however, shall have the right or the power to use the cover of protest to
silence speakers. This is a sacrosanct and inviolable principle.”
Inside Higher Ed, October 9, 2006
Jensen Comment
There was also another incident where
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
A Year's Worth of Memorable Moments on NPR ---
http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/moments_2006/index.html
A nice article about foliage colors, art, and writing
Like light refracted in a prism, separated into the
different lengths of colored beams, delving into the visual is a way I can
refract creativity. The long blue beam of my writing is complimented by the
array of other colors, other expressions of creativity that balance and enhance
my work by allowing me to explore new ways of seeing and re-creating the world
in which I live. To enhance their art, painters might dance, musicians might
paint, writers might sculpt, and then bring all those shades of creativity back
to the art of their choosing. After my winter play, my words are strong and
vibrant, rested and basking in the return of the strengthening sun, ready for
the work of writing, but my crayons also stand ready.
Amy Wink, "Comprehending the Light," Inside Higher Ed, December 21,
2006 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2006/12/21/wink
- Free Merriam Webster Online Dictionary/Thesaurus --- http://www.m-w.com/
New words of the year http://www.m-w.com/info/06words.htm
Words banashed from the Queen's English
Continuing a New Year’s Day tradition, Lake Superior
State University has issued a new list of
Words Banished From the Queen’s English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General
Uselessness. Among this year’s banned words and
phrases: Combined celebrity names (TomKat, Bragelina and so forth), awesome,
truthiness ("The Colbert Report” word may have once had meaning, but it’s been
used up, the university concluded), and i-anything.
Inside Higher Ed, January 2, 2007 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/02/qt
Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries
Controversies over the limits of free speech on campus
Sixty British academics have issued a public letter calling for a change in the
law to explicitly protect academic freedom and to give complete freedom of
speech to those who teach at universities,
The Guardian reported.
The professors cite incidents in which colleagues with controversial views have
been attacked or the self-censorship of some who wish to avoid controversy. An
official of the main faculty union in Britain expressed some caution about the
new movement, telling the newspaper: “We should distinguish between the crucial
right of an academic to question and test received wisdom and any suggestions
that this is the same as an unlimited right of a university academic to express,
for example, anti-Semitic, homophobic or misogynist abuse where they were using
a position of authority to bully students or staff, or potentially breach the
duty of care that universities have towards students or staff.”
Inside Higher Ed, December 22, 2006 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/12/22/qt
"Kicked Out," by Cary Nelson, Inside Higher Ed, December 22, 2006 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2006/12/22/nelson
Reverend: “Not here. I decide what gets taught. I approve what they read. I’m ordering you to leave the building.”
Since it was a private facility I left as ordered. But the program is to be funded with public money, and the Illinois Humanities Council was assured free speech was guaranteed in the classes. It is not. Indeed others have suggested the students were under pressure not to disagree with church doctrine. This is precisely why the separation of church and state is established in the United States Constitution, though there is reason to doubt President Bush is comfortable with the concept.
Continued in article
Cary Nelson is president of the American Association of University Professors and a professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Bob Jensen's threads on academic freedom are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#AcademicFreedom
Also see
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#PoliticalCorrectness
Comparing George Bailey and Howard Roark
My purpose, however, is not to defend the genius of
these creators but to compare two of their protagonists, The Fountainhead’s
Howard Roark and Wonderful Life’s George Bailey. To anyone familiar with both
works it would seem that the two characters could not be more different. I
contend, however, that they are not only similar but a variation on a common
archetype.
Joe Carter, "The Fountainhead of Bedford Falls: Comparing George Bailey and
Howard Roark," The Evangelical Outpost, December 20, 2006 ---
http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/archives/003342.html
Time for a Change: We're Losing the War on Drugs
Saul Becker, a famous sociologist who currently
resides in U.S. proposed a very interesting, although controversial, perspective
to the approach of the drug problem in his recent article "Drugs: what are
they?" The goal of this short research essay is to explore and analyze his
proposal under the concept of sociological imagination. A clear summary and
evaluation will provide a better picture to his standpoint and allow people to
see that he is indeed right on the button on many of the issues surrounding the
current drug policy.
Lawrence Ding, "A Critical Evaluation of Current Drug Policy of United States,"
DefenceTalk, December 17, 2006 ---
Click Here
We will greatly miss Bob Anthony
December 20, 2006 message from Bill McCarthy [mccarthy@bus.msu.edu]
The following appeared on Boston.com:
Headline: Robert Anthony; reshaped Pentagon budget processDate: December 20, 2006
"At the behest of Robert S. McNamara, his longtime friend, Robert N.
Anthony set aside scholarly pursuits at Harvard Business School in the mid-1960s to take a key role reshaping the budget process for the Defense Department."
____________________________________________________________
To see this recommendation, click on the link below or cut and paste it into a Web browser:
December 20, 2006 reply from Bob Jensen
Hi Bill,
Thank you! Bob has been a longtime great friend. His obituary is at http://www.hbs.edu/news/120506_anthonyobit.html
What is really amazing is the wide range of long-time service to at very high levels, including serving on the FASB as well as being Defense Department's Assistant Secretary (Comptroller) during the Viet Nam War. He also received the Defense Department's Medal for Distinguished Public Service. The FASB requested that Bob focus on accounting for nonprofit organizations. He also served as President of the American Accounting Association.Bob was one of the most distinguished professors of the Harvard Business School It saddens me greatly to see him pass on. His Hall of Fame link is at
http://fisher.osu.edu/Departments/Accounting-and-MIS/Hall-of-Fame/Membership-in-Hall/Robert-Newton-Anthony/Or Click Here
I don't know if you were present when Bob Anthony gave his 1989 Outstanding Educator Award Address to the American Accounting Association. It was one of the harshest indictments I've ever heard concerning the sad state of academic research in serving the accounting profession. Bob never held back on his punches.
Bob Jensen
December 20, 2006 reply from Denny Beresford [DBeresfo@TERRY.UGA.EDU]
Bob,
Yesterday's New York Times also included an obituary for Bob Anthony . . . Bob wasn't the easiest person to get along with, but I considered him to be one of the very brightest people I ever associated with. He was a wonderful writer and I always enjoyed the letters and other things he sent me at the FASB and later - even when I disagreed completely with his ideas. His work with the government made him one of the most generally influential accountants of the 20th century, I believe.
Denny
His accounting concepts ranged from the global to
the provincial. In a 1970 letter to The New York Times, he proposed that the
United States create a tax surcharge to cover damages to the Soviet Union in the
event of an accidental American nuclear strike. The tax burden would be “the
smallest consequence of maintaining a nuclear arsenal,” he wrote. “An all-out
nuclear exchange would probably mean the end of civilization.” In the late
1980s, Professor Anthony moved to Waterville Valley, N.H., where for 10 years he
was the town’s elected auditor. “I got 24 votes last year; that’s all there
were,” he once said.
<http://www.nytimes.com/pages/business/index.html>
Electronic Journal of Sociology --- http://www.sociology.org/
Stop Child Poverty --- http://www.stopchildpoverty.org/
USDA: Food & Nutrition Service --- http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/
Bob Jensen's threads on social science and philosophy learning helpers --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Social
How to Track Current Happenings in the World
The World --- http://www.theworld.org/
Tools for Understanding (Math) --- http://www2.ups.edu/community/tofu/home.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on helpers for learning mathematics --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics
Violin Instruction: The American Suzuki Institute at the
University of Wisconsin-Stevens
Point: the Suzuki Method in Action ---
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/Arts/subcollections/SuzukiAbout.shtml
Bob Jensen's threads on online music instruction --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Music
Teaching Geology --- http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/Resources/
Bob Jensen's threads on science learning helpers --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Science
Introduction to Electronics, Signals, and Measurement --- Click Here
National Eye Institute: Photos, Images, and Videos --- http://www.nei.nih.gov/photo/
Introduction to Microbiology --- http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/109/index.html
Bob Jensen's threads on science learning helpers --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Science
Digital Photography Tutorials --- http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm
What Can You Find at Google Patent Search?
Look up the Wright Brothers' airplane drawings or
investigate Tesla's electrical innovation proposals and Tom Edison's
incandescent patents. Send us results of your favorite searches.
"What Can You Find at Google Patent Search?" Wired News, December 15,
2006 ---
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2006/12/cool_patents_at.html
"Lesson Plan for Education Reform: A study group issues an
education plan for keeping the U.S. competitive globally, calling for a radical
transformation of American schools," by Jane Porter, Business Week,
December 14, 2006 ---
Click Here
With the release of a new report Dec. 14 on the future of the U.S. educational system, the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce has created a controversial blueprint for school reform that it says is crucial if the U.S. is to maintain its competitiveness. With India and China churning out highly skilled, low-cost workers, the group says the U.S. must train the next generation of college graduates to produce the next big wave of money-making ideas. If it can be done at all, it will take 15 years and cost billions in new and reallocated funds, but the U.S. has no choice, according to the report. "There is a real sense of urgency at this point," says Caroline Hoxby, Harvard economist and director for the National Bureau of Economic Research's Economics of Education Program. "We don't have any time to waste."If implemented, the commission's recommendations—signed by 26 members from all corners of the corporate, nonprofit, education, and political worlds—would revolutionize the way children are educated in this country. Among the ideas: a set of Board Examinations allowing all 10th graders to place into college; improved compensation and incentives to attract better quality teachers; an overhaul of the American testing industry; contract-run schools instead of schools run by school boards; improved education for all three- and four-year-olds; standards for state-run funding instead of local funding; legislation for continued education for adults; a new GI Bill; and regionally focused job training.
Staying Ahead
Skeptics question the new testing proposal, the dangers of state-regulated standards supporting an inadvertently top-down system and the actual feasibility and effect such changes would have in a global context. Iris Rotberg, research professor of education policy at George Washington University, who has examined education reform across 16 countries, says the country's problems are not unique. "The fact is we are all struggling with pretty much the same problems, including an achievement gap based on socioeconomic status," she says, noting that countries in Europe and Asia face similar dilemmas.
But if experts in the field of education don't agree with one of the commission's recommendations, they are likely to agree with a slew of others. Educators a