Posted on 03/06/2006 9:15:13 AM PST by yoe
Yale’s administrocrats are cowering under their desks in Woodbridge Hall again, as they have yet to render any formal comments regarding the presence of the deputy spokesman of the Taliban on campus, even though the story broke a week ago.p
Yale’s finally achieved Orwellian perfection with its political correctness -- our enemy, the Tablian, has become their friend, and our friend, the U.S. military, has become their enemy.p
One has to ask why Yale has yet to respond, besides the obvious (no backbone, no sense of principle, et cetera)? During such crises in the past, Yale has been blessed to have some third party rise to its defense so that it doesn’t have to take a black eye. But there’s been no fall-guy this week, as Yale simply holds an indefensible position that no one, not even Howard Dean, could even pretend to defend. (I did hear, though, through the grapevine that one vocal undergraduate feminist went so far as to state we shouldn’t judge people of color who hold differing views of women’s rights, like the Taliban; I’m sure sad Yale didn’t try using that one.
If Yale sides with those who are questioning the school’s patriotism, President Levin and the Yale Corporation may well forestall the loss of alumni donations and the goodwill of the American people, but they’ll do so at the peril of the more radical amongst the faculty and students. Lawrence Summers’ blood has, after all, been splashed all over the walls of academia. On the flip side, if Yale defends its decision to recruit Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, then kiss good-bye what vestiges of credibility Yale still has as an institution that serves America’s interests.
To this end, I’ve heard all sorts of fascinating comments during the past few days; a few are valuable enough to share.
1. “Doesn’t educating Mr. Rahmatullah ultimately serve America’s interests by helping convert him to our way of thinking?”
I’ve never been one for long-shot odds; we should be offering our educational assistance as a nation to those who have stood-up and fought for freedom, particularly those who aided us in Afghanistan and Iraq against the Taliban and Saddam’s regime. Helping those who have served the common cause of freedom will further America’s interests far more than any help we offer to deposed enemies.
2. “If the State Department and U.S. Intelligence cleared Mr. Rahmatullah, why should we worry? He’d be in Guantanamo if he were dangerous…”
Forgetting about the student visas held by 9/11 hijackers for a moment, Mr. Rahmatullah himself said he was the luckiest man alive, given his slot at Yale and not at Guantanamo. Why? Sounds like a guilty conscience to me. (Further, I guess some have forgotten about covert agents since the end of the Cold War.)
3. “People like you go around waving the flag on campus, but what are like-minded students doing to defend this nation besides just talking?”
Well, for starters, we’re trying to increase the military’s presence on campuses such as Yale’s precisely so students can participate in the defense of our nation, instead of just talking about it, which is all they are allowed to do now. It’s no accident that many campuses harbor disdainful or elitist views of joining the military; radical professors and administrators have cultivated that snobby air of superiority to discourage students from serving in the military. There’s no worse feeling than being looked down upon; I know from my days in battle dress on Yale’s campus. It’s high time we put an end to such misbegotten and myopic views.
So, my advice to Yale is simple (should Yale’s administration desire a somewhat graceful exit with the American people): Send Mr. Rahmatullah packing and look for some deserving students who risked their lives to help overthrow the Taliban and/or Saddam; publicize their enrollment so America knows about the good deed.
Issue a statement of principle to the American people, avowing unqualified support for the men and women who wear our nation’s uniforms and include with it a stipulation that Yale will aid in recruiting its students to serve in the honorable calling of our nation’s defense. This would, of course, include petitioning the Department of Defense for on-campus ROTC units and military recruiters to visit the law and medical schools. Offering differential scholarships to close gaps in the ones awarded by the military through ROTC wouldn’t hurt either.
Retire tenured faculty (or remove their classroom burden of “teaching”) and fire administrators who object to the aforementioned two points. Remind those who resist that soldiers, not professors, gave us freedom of speech. Yale has plenty of sidewalks from which disaffected former employees can exercise their free speech rights. After all, the constitution doesn’t mandate a perch for such speech in the Ivory Tower; it’s an earned privilege and a great responsibility.
Am I dreaming? I sure am. But, we win wars by going on the offense and thinking big. We live in a great big land of great big ideas, and I thank God for that every day.
Yale, Harvard...what happened to the best of the best. They have become mere shadows of themselves, wallowing in past glories.
I think there are things that the Yale students could learn from this guy.... Like how to beat women....
Ya gotta love Yale: they are the ones who wanted U.S. military recruiters out, but keep a ist in.
My letter to the editor of the New Haven Register - published in today's paper:
I read with interest your story about former Taliban spokesman Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi's arrival for study at Yale. It comes as no surprise that Yale would find room for such an individual. The Yale faculty are tripping over themselves to laud the implied diversity respresented by such a figure, but this kind of outreach forsakes the thousands of innocent lives taken at the hands of Taliban-sponsored terrorists. Decent Americans are rightfully repulsed by this, and Yale has once again positioned itself at the forefront of the America-hating left.
Figures.
Beyond that, what genius at State Dept approved this visa?
This piece of human trash was a main player in the human rights violating Taliban regime. His bosses murdered women for daring to violate their sexist rules. Where are the feminist groups and leftist human rights groups? Why are they tolerating this vermin attending Yale? Is it because they hate America more than they love women?
over the weekend it was reported that Yale U officials said about recruiting the Taliban ..."we lost one already to Harvard and we'll not let that happen again...."
I would like to know the name of the terrorist recruited by Harvard...
The Enemy Within comes in many forms and today it comes from the Taliban also. Rahmatullah is one of the new ones in the enemy within. We have been fighting this enemy for a long time and WE are beating them and they don't like it. We can't stop fighting. Call the Senators and get out and vote.
Ironically, the first American murdered by the nut Muslims was liberal! RFK in Los Angeles 1968. Imagine that!
Yes, your RIGHT.
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