Yale Taliban Out…Sort Of…
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, The War On Terrorism
Yale isn’t going to let a former Taliban member get a degree…
A student at Yale University who was once a roving ambassador for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has been denied admission to a degree-granting program at Yale, one of the student’s financial supporters said yesterday.
However…they’re still letting him roam the campus?
The student, Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, apparently can continue to take courses at the university as an untraditional student in a non-degree program, as he did during the past academic year, said Tatiana Maxwell, the president of the International Education Foundation, which was created to raise money to send Mr. Hashemi to Yale.
Honestly, this is pretty lame way to get out of this situation, but what do you expect from an Ivy League school? Yeah, I know…cheap shot…but they should just kick the guy out already and be done with it.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 6th, 2006 and is filed under Education, The War On Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 6th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
who are you to say whether “they should just kick the guy out” or not. you don’t even know him.
July 6th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
First off, I know his history. Do you? If not, educate yourself. It’s not flattering.
Second, to my knowledge he does not disown his past affiliations with that oppressive regime. To me, that means he should have no place in one of our institutions of higher education. He can “expand” his mind elsewhere.
July 6th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
What is quoted says he was denied admission. Private universities, especially Yale, deny admission to LOTS of people, mostly because they don’t have the test scores, grades, activities, money, old money family wealth, etc. to make the cut.
If he was already admitted and then kicked out when they found out that information, that would be a different story. Although, I’m not sure what his rights would be if he’s not a citizen who is entitled to due process to protect his property interest in receiving an education. But, as I said, it looks like they just denied him admission, which any private school can do for any reason they want to. It seems like they’re being nice by letting him hang out, although I would recommend they tell him to hit the road.
July 6th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
“to my knowledge he does not disown his past affiliations with that oppressive regime”
I am glad you qualify that statement with “to my knowledge”. Like I said, you don’t know him. Neither do most of the people who have been raising hell about him. Those who really knew him, supported him. And that includes names like Charles Hill.
“he should have no place in one of our institutions of higher education”
I think we can leave that decision to the institutions themselves. Let’s not forget, he’s not the one who desperately wants to study here: it’s some Americans themselves who thought they could do the world a favor. Let’s also not forget that he has offers from several other reputable institutions in this very country, but he did Yale a favor by choosing them to ask for degree status, which they now rejected because of all the pointless political controversy.
The world had thought that the Taliban brought back the worst of tribalism back into this modern world. They hadn’t seen what conservative America had in store. If it was just that it wouldn’t have been so bad: but it’s good old tribalism AND arrogance.
July 6th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
So, does he disown those past affiliations? I’d like to know, as would a lot of people. Don’t you think it’s his responsibility to make sure the world knows?
As for him having a place in higher education, I don’t care who brought him here. He came along for the ride. That’s a rather disingenuous argument that places little responsibility in his hands.
And please, save the “America Taliban” references. I’m a liberal and I’m done with those.
July 7th, 2006 at 3:23 am
I did not mean to make any assumptions about your political affiliation. Nevertheless, we have seen very clearly that the anti-Hashemi movement was almost overwhelmingly conservative.
“He came along for the ride”… You are rather cynical, which I don’t like. Also, I should clarify: when I say he isn’t desperate to go to Yale, I don’t mean to imply that he doesn’t himself want a higher education. Let’s remind ourselves that after the fall of the Taliban, he did not accept an offer to serve the current (US-backed) Karzai administration because he wanted to study. Let’s also not forget that this same Karzai administration includes many who were part of the former oppressive regime, and yet are now making the most out of a few opportunist tricks and loads of American cash flowing in. Fortunately for them, Fox News isn’t after their asses, repentent or un-.
I do know very well whether he disowns that past or not, but who am I to speak for him? Yes it is his responsibility to let the world know, but he has a lot of other responsibilities, too. For good or for bad, this world is a little too complicated.
I know I’m pushing this line of argument too much, but I still stand by what I think: if you were currently at Yale, whether as a TA, a student, or a professor who’d gotten to know him, you would quite likely have a very different view of him…regardless of political beliefs, regardless of whether you wanted him out or not.
I doubt if this issue is all that important, or will remain so for long, but if you are interested, you may want to look at the article on him in the current issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine. (And of course, there’s the original NYT article, which tells the story of much of his life, and yet which most of us keep ignoring, reductionists as we all tend to be…)