Dissident Arab Gets Treatment

Dissident Arab Gets the Treatment By Ahmad Al-Qloushi FrontPageMagazine.com | January 6, 2005

I am a 17-year-old Kuwaiti Arab Muslim and a college freshman studying in the USA. I was three years of age when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. My parents still remember what it was like for us during the invasion. Waiting for long hours in line for a few pieces of bread. We had darkness 24 hours a day from the burning oil wells. My two uncles are still traumatized from being kidnapped and tortured in Iraqi prisons. Most of all we remember our one-week-old baby cousin who died while the Iraqi invaders were stealing incubators from hospitals to sell them for profit. The Americans by contrast came in to liberate us and asked for nothing in return. I love this country for the freedom it provides and for rescuing Kuwait’s liberty in the first Gulf War. 12 Years later, America once again has selflessly protected my country and my people by removing Saddam Hussein.

I arrived in the United States for the first time 5 months ago with tremendous enthusiasm to study the political institutions and history of this extraordinary country.

I enrolled in Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California and immediately registered for “Introduction to American Government and Politics." I was shocked by my Professor’s singularly one-sided presentation. Week after week, I encountered a lack of intellectual and political diversity that I would have more commonly expected to have heard on the streets of pre-liberation Iraq. In this particular class I heard only one consistent refrain: America is bad.

A week before thanksgiving Professor Woolcock assigned us a take home final exam. The final exam consisted solely of one required essay: “Dye and Zeigler contend that the Constitution of the United States was not ‘ordained and established’ by ‘the people’ as we have so often been led to believe. They contend instead that it was written by a small educated and wealthy elite in America who were representative of powerful economic and political interests. Analyze the US constitution (original document), and show how its formulation excluded the majority of the people living in America at that time, and how it was dominated by America's elite interest.”

When I read the assignment I remembered back to my high school in Kuwait. Many of my teachers were Palestinian; they hated America, they hated my worldview, and they did their best to brainwash me. I did not leave my country and my family to come to the United States to receive further brainwashing. I disagreed completely with Dye and Zeigler’s thesis. I wrote an essay defending America’s Founding Fathers and upholding the US constitution as a pioneering document, which has contributed to extraordinary freedoms in America and other corners of the world - including my corner, the Middle East.

Professor Woolcock didn’t grade my essay. Instead he told me to come to see him in his office the following morning. I was surprised the next morning when instead of giving me a grade, Professor Woolcock verbally attacked me and my essay. He told me, “Your views are irrational.” He called me naïve for believing in the greatness of this country, and told me "America is not God's gift to the world." Then he upped the stakes and said "You need regular psychotherapy." Apparently, if you are an Arab Muslim who loves America you must be deranged. Professor Woolcock went as far as to threaten me by stating that he would visit the Dean of International Admissions (who has the power to take away student visas) to make sure I received regular psychological treatment.

This scared me. I didn’t want to be deported for having written a pro-American essay, so as soon as I left his office I made an appointment with the school psychologist. She let me go with a comment that I don’t need regular therapy. As I left her office, I couldn’t help thinking that even my Palestinian high school teachers had never tried to silence me or put me in therapy.

I have since learned that mine is not an isolated case. Many students in American universities are being indoctrinated and silenced by biased professors who hate America. America saved my life and the lives of my family. How can I not speak out?

The local media picked up the story of what happened to me. Professor Woolcock then filed a school grievance accusing me, under section 5 of Foothill’s grievance code, of an “act or threat of intimidation or general harassment.” If you are confused by this, so was I. Foothill’s Dean of Student Affairs, Don Dorsey, would not let me see the grievance as filed but he summarized it for me by saying, "Professor Woolcock feels harassed by your having mentioned his name to the media."

As a result of growing media attention I am told that Foothill’s Board of Trustees has received hundreds of e-mails. I came to this country to study American political institutions and I have certainly been getting a crash course. I’ve discovered that, as a tax-payer funded college, Foothill has a 5 member publicly elected Board of Trustees who care passionately about Education.

Ironically, as I was going through all of this I learned that California State Senator Bill Morrow was introducing the Academic Bill of Rights to the State Legislature to defend academic freedom and intellectual diversity on California’s campuses. As a result of my own experience and the many stories I have heard from other Foothill students, I am helping to form a chapter of Students for Academic Freedom to get my college and my state to adopt this bill. You can encourage Foothill’s Board of Trustees to pass the Academic Bill of Rights as official school policy by emailing them at http://www.fhda.edu/about_us/board/.

Ahmad Al-Qloushi was born and raised in Al-Shaab, Kuwait where he attended English language school. He recently became President of Foothill’s College Republicans. He is a Political-Science major at Foothill College. Please e-mail Ahmad at ahmadalqloushi@sbcglobal.net.

Oh, and it gets better - hold on to your barf bags for this one:

		All Press Releases for December 10, 2004
	Professor Files Grievance Against Pro-American Kuwaiti Arab Muslim Student for Revealing Classroom Intimidation
	Free Speech Issue Adds To Ongoing College Controversy. In an ongoing controversy at Foothill College, Political-Science Professor Joseph Woolcock filed a grievance against student Ahmad Al-Qloushi for mentioning Woolcock's name in the media. Don Dorsey, Dean of Student Affairs, summarized the grievance as, “Professor Woolcock feels harrased by your (Al-Qloushi) having mentioned his name to the media.” Los Altos Hills, CA (PRWEB) December 10, 2004 -- On Tuesday, December 7th, in an ongoing controversy at Foothill College, Political-Science Professor Joseph Woolcock filed a grievance against student Ahmad Al-Qloushi for mentioning Woolcock's name in the media. Don Dorsey, Dean of Student Affairs, summarized the grievance as, “Professor Woolcock feels harrased by your (Al-Qloushi) having mentioned his name to the media.” On Wednesday December 1st, Foothill College Political-Science Professor Joseph Woolcock tried to intimidate student Ahmad Al-Qloushi into seeing a therapist because of a Pro-American essay he wrote in Woolcock's class. The thesis of Al-Qloushi's essay is that the US constitution was a very progressive document, which has contributed to freedom beyond America's borders. Al-Qloushi and the Foothill College Republicans defended that intellectual diversity must be respected on campus, and are lobbying to have the "Academic Bill of Rights" adopted as official policy by the college’s elected Board of Trustees. Professor Woolcock's name was mentioned on numerous websites including www.townhall.com/clog and www.davidlimbaugh.com. “This (Woolcock’s) grievance will not detour us from our goal,” said Cori Jenab, Vice-President of Foothill College Republicans. “This grievance ignited a First Amendment rights outrage from the kindling of existing controversy at Foothill College.” "Intellectual diversity must be respected at Foothill College," said Ahmad Al-Qloushi. "This grievance will not detour us from our goal of having Foothill's Board of Trustees pass the ‘Academic Bill of Rights’ as official school policy." Woolcock filed the grievance through an institutional process normally used by students who experience inappropriate behavior on behalf of Foothill teachers such as an "act or threat of intimidation or general harassment." To learn more about this grievance process, please visit http://www.foothill.edu/services/studentright.html#stucomplaint Dorsey was not able to release the case number or text of the grievance at this time. Ahmad Al-Qloushi and Cori Jenab are available for immediate interview. For more information about this controversy, please visit http://www.collegegop.org. To learn more about the Academic Bill of Rights, please visit http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org ###

> Oh, and it gets better - hold on to your barf bags for this one:

From the somewhat whiny, twisted, liberal, San Jose, Calif.,
___________________________________________________

These gifts can't be returned

Dec. 26, 2004 -- So we missed Christmas by a day. But who says the Grinches here at IA can't get into the holiday spirit?

To give thanks to some of the newsmakers who provide so much grist for us the rest of the year, we feel obligated to offer gifts. ...

((...excerpted...))

Needed: a grain of salt

``Arab Student Pushed to see Therapist'' the headline began. The Foothill College Republicans blasted faxes to reporters this month complaining that a professor had forced a student to see the college therapist merely because the student wrote a pro-American essay.

This, the students fumed, is why the Los Altos Hills campus should adopt an Academic Bill of Rights. Nationwide, conservatives are pushing the political protection bill, which says that while colleges tolerate different races, sexes and creeds, they only welcome liberal politics.

Ahmad Al-Qloushi seems a poster child for the cause: His political science professor allegedly told him to get psychological help simply because Al-Qloushi wrote a chest-thumping patriotic essay.

But IA was suspicious. Al-Qloushi happens to be president of the Foothill College Republicans -- a fact the group's press materials neglected to mention.

What were the odds of a campaign-perfect case happening to the college Republican president?

``It is a coincidence,'' Al-Qloushi said, ``but this is the case.''

IA tried to confirm Al-Qloushi's story -- and a subsequent release from the group that said the professor had filed a grievance against Al-Qloushi -- but campus officials said they couldn't discuss confidential professor-student matters. The professor wouldn't return calls and e-mails; the therapist simply hung up.
...
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/the_valley/10501390.htm

More:

Collegiate Intimidation
By Michael Wiesner
FrontPageMagazine.com | December 15, 2004

My name is Michael Wiesner and I am a former student at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California. I am writing this article in the wake of an incident in which a teacher at the college recommended psychological therapy to an Arab student who had praised the U.S. Constitution.

On December 1st, a professor named Joseph Woolcock suggested a Kuwaiti Arab Muslim student named Ahmad Al-Qloushi should seek therapy after the student submitted a paper arguing that the U.S. Constitution was a step forward for America and the world. The Foothill College Republicans reported Dr. Woolcock's behavior to the media, and Dr. Woolcock issued a grievance in a further attempt to silence the student.

The college is treating the matter as if it is an isolated incident. They are doing everything they can to distance themselves from the matter. But in truth, teacher intimidation goes to the very heart of the Foothill College bureaucracy. It has become commonplace for the school to silence students with ideas or opinions contrary to those of their professors. Instead of accepting these cases as part of a larger problem, the Foothill College bureaucracy, all the way up to President Bernadine Fong, have chosen to ignore the larger issue and silence individual cases. As a result, intellectual pluralism has been ruined, and Foothill College no longer an institution of free ideas.

Foothill College is not only a place where conservative students like Ahmad are low-tracked by liberal teachers. It is also a place where conservative professors feel free to bust down liberal students like me. The problem goes beyond politics. Foothill College is a place where teachers are free to target students they dislike, out of pique, race, religion, or sexual orientation, with inappropriate comments during class, intimidation, and grade manipulation. I am writing this article because it happened to me, and I have been intimidated into silence about my ordeal for three years. It is Ahmad Al-Qloushi's courage in this matter that brings me to speak about my experience. Ahmad and I are speaking out as two students at the opposite ends of the political spectrum.

I find most of David Horowitz's right-wing views to be offensive. I led an anti-war rally at Foothill College, and I voted against George W. Bush both times. That having been said, intellectual pluralism is not a political issue. We must treat intellectual pluralism as an issue of intellectual freedom. Both liberal students and conservative students ought to be free to express their ideas in the classroom. My story describes the denial of student rights and opinions, grade manipulation and favoritism. It also describes the six-month long battle I fought with Foothill College, and the College's attempt to silence myself, my views, and my retelling of what happened in within a Foothill College classroom.

In the Winter of 2002 I took an Ethics course taught by Professor Dave Peterson. Throughout the course, Professor Peterson was not only biased in his presentation of ethics, but also indoctrinated us with his conservative agenda, and was purposefully offensive toward liberal views and beliefs.

I recall the first time Professor Peterson discussed the 'ethical' position of being pro-life. Professor Peterson equated abortion with the then-popular Andrea Yates case, and stated there was no difference between “a mother who orders a doctor to murder her babies and a mother who drowns her children in a bathtub.” I, along with a number of students, challenged his analogy, and we were told that we were simply wrong and did not understand ethics. He then continued his tirade against abortion, singling out and ridiculing some women in the class, and using them as characters in his examples. On this occasion and many others, several people were so sickened by his explicit examples they had to leave the room. He reduced one woman to tears in the middle of class. (The day of the final, he told this student that it didn't matter what grade she received on the exam, she would receive an F.) His anti-abortion examples were repeated over and over. As students began to feel personally targeted, enrollment dropped to a fraction of the original enlistment. Those who remained realized that to disagree was to be targeted, and remained silent. He once deducted significants points on an essay from a female student because her essay discussed a film from the perspective of feminism. Despite him having suggested that film in writing, he wrote on her paper that she was “not qualified to discuss the matter.”

Finally, at the end of the quarter, Professor Peterson said that if we would bring a self-addressed stamped envelope, he would mail our final tests back to us. I participated in this process because at this time I had voiced my opposition to many of his personal beliefs. He never sent a copy of my exam back to me, which made it very convenient for him to do what he did next.

I received a D in the class. I decided to approach the Professor Peterson for further information. However, the professor refused to return my calls. Whenever I ran into him on campus the following quarter, I repeatedly asked why he would not disclose my grades to me. He would give excuses such as, “My computer is broken, I can't retrieve your grades right now,” or “My desk is very cluttered, when I come across them, I'll let you know.” Finally, he would simply turn and walk away from me.

Professor Peterson's previous attitude had made me cautious about talking to anyone about what happened in his class. However, I read the “Investigation and Resolution of Complaints Regarding Harassment and Discrimination” pamphlet Foothill College distributes. I learned that it is unlawful for professors to retaliate against someone who files a discrimination complaint or refers a matter for investigation.

I believed I was under the protection of the Foothill College, and contacted the then-Dean of Social Sciences, Elizabeth Zoltan. I reported that Professor Peterson would not speak to me regarding the matter, and asked if she would help. The Dean told me she would speak with Professor Peterson.

Professor Peterson responded to me via e-mail, very quickly, with immediate retaliation. His tone of sarcasm in the e-mail was blatant. He lowered my grade from a D to an F. He also wrote, 'Thank you also for bringing this to the attention of the Dean.' The policy I had believed would protect me had been completely ignored by the Professor.

I forwarded the e-mail to the Dean, and believed I would surely be protected under Foothill College's anti-retaliation policy. However, the Dean resisted helping me, and her tone quickly became hostile. I decided to go beyond my grading inquiry, and disclosed Professor Peterson's witch hunt against liberals. I told her about his silencing of our own opinions in face of his “ethical” positions. Surprisingly, the Dean did even less to help. I quickly realized there was no policy to protect intellectual pluralism. The faculty continued to resist any charges.

It turned out that Professor Peterson had given me no credit on two of my three papers, written from a liberal standpoint. He also began to mark me absent for days I attended the full class period. Professor Peterson seemed adamant from the moment I disagreed with him to show me who was the boss.

Professor Peterson had made an active attempt to induce an environment unbecoming of a learning institution, ignored and even took retaliation on one of his students, and was entirely uncooperative through this process. I hand-delivered the entire documentation of my ordeal to Bernadine Fong, the President of Foothill College. The matter was simply swept under the carpet. Professor Peterson still teaches at Foothill College.

Ahmad Al-Qloushi and I speak out as two victims who will not be silenced. In my case, when the Dean and Professor Peterson saw I was not going to be pushed into obedience, they said they would change the F back into a D, but no more. I told the Dean this settlement missed the point of my objections to Professor Peterson. Foothill College ignores the threat to intellectual pluralism by granting individual settlements to students who push hard enough. They proposed changing my F back into a D, and acted as if reversing Professor Peterson's retaliation was an acceptable way to solve the larger problem. Ahmad and I, in our pursuit of the underlying principles of education, speak for the unknown number of victims at Foothill and at universities across the country.

The only benefit to the outrage currently taking place at Foothill College and universities around the country is that there is a clear solution. While Ahmad and I may disagree politically, we both agree that it is entirely inappropriate for a teacher to use his or her authority over a student to both attack the student's political beliefs and silence any opposition. The only way that Foothill College can solve the growing problem of intellectual intimidation and silencing, is if the public urges its board of trustees to protect the students' rights under the Academic Bill of Rights.

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Professor Files Grievance Against Pro-American Kuwaiti Arab Muslim Student for Revealing Classroom Intimidation

These gifts can't be returned