From the Wall Street Journal

http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110008127


http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/013776.php

April 16, 2006
Why Taliban Man at Yale?

Earlier this month Yale Dean Peter Salovey and Yale Professor Charles Hill wrote letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal supporting the attendance of Tabliban Man at Yale. Both letters are to the same effect, both are vapid and neither is of interest in itself. Professor Hill, however, is both conservative and one of the most remarkable teachers at Yale; his letter is of interest because of its author. This week the Journal published devastating responses, one from another Yale faculty member, that are of interest in themselves. Here are the letters from Dean Salovey and Professor Hill published on April 4:

    In his March 23 editorial-page commentary "Taliban Man at Yale," John H. Fund states, "Universities are places where free inquiry, debate and information sharing are supposed to be guiding lights." We profoundly agree. Yale has allowed Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi to take courses for college credit in a part-time program that does not award Yale degrees. Contrary to what has been reported by some in the media, he has not been admitted as an undergraduate to Yale College nor to any of the other schools at Yale, and contrary to Mr. Fund's commentary, Yale has not been silent on this front. In fact, my colleagues have had frequent conversations with Mr. Fund and others.

    We acknowledge that some are criticizing Yale for allowing Mr. Hashemi to take courses here, but we hope that critics will also acknowledge that universities are places that must strive to increase understanding, especially of the most difficult issues that face the nation and the world.

    According to the State Department, Ramatullah Hashemi was issued a tourist visa in 2004, before he applied to Yale, and a student visa in 2005. The State Department also has indicated the mandatory procedures were followed, which, in his case, included vetting through an interagency security clearance process. He was cleared by all agencies.

    Peter Salovey
    Dean of Yale College
    Professor of Psychology, Management, and Epidemiology and Public Health
    New Haven, Conn.

    The widespread denunciation of Yale for permitting Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi to take courses as a non-degree student is unjustified. This is exactly what a great university should be doing. A university, by definition, must be open to the vast external world and provide a space for intellectual and personal interaction among differing perspectives. Only through such engagement with others can the process of learning and changing for the better take place.

    U.S. national interests also are involved here. Put simply, the greater Middle East region for decades has been moving into violent opposition to the established world order. American policy has been, and must continue to be, to encourage those states, parties and individuals who want to be, or to become, good international citizens and to defend ourselves against those who don't; for if the latter prevail, the result could be an all-out world war waged from that region against the international state system.

    Seen in this context, Mr. Hashemi's case and that of Dubai Ports World are in the same category. DP World represents an Arab state willing to play by the rules of international commerce; we should have welcomed them to our shores, not kicked them in the teeth. Mr. Hashemi, who has never been charged with Taliban-style crimes, and who was reported by the American press to have been helpful to the U.S. forces during the 2003 Afghan campaign, is by every account a friendly and constructive presence here at Yale. He has chosen to shape his life on our side of the line.

    As a "Special Student" in a category designed for people without a standard academic background, he is not taking a slot away from any qualified applicant. Yale deserves praise for spotting someone who can make a positive difference and giving him a chance.

    Charles Hill
    Lecturer
    Yale University
    New Haven, Conn. 

This past Tuesday the Journal published three letters in response, one from a Yale political science professor. I think it's fair to say that these letters have the better of the argument:

    On April 4, you published Letters to the Editor from Dean Peter Salovey of Yale College and Charles Hill, a lecturer in international affairs and humanities, regarding the presence at Yale of Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, a former spokesman for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Mr. Hashemi was admitted last year as a non-degree student.

    I agree entirely with the vision of the role of the university described by Dean Salovey and Mr. Hill in furthering an understanding of this complicated, conflict-ridden, and unstable world.

    But it is also the case that Mr. Hashemi was a spokesman for a regime that perpetrated the worst possible excesses of a repressive, illiberal and theocratic state, and engaged in widespread politically and religiously motivated imprisonment, torture and execution. At the time he was a spokesman for the regime, it provided sanctuary and protection for Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda leadership and their training camps. In fact, Mr. Hashemi appeared at Yale as a spokesman for the regime in 2001, only months before al Qaeda carried out the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Those attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, including people with Yale connections.

    Since those attacks, the U.S. and other countries have been engaged in military operations in Afghanistan. Although removed from power, the Taliban continues to exist as a military force in the south of the country and American soldiers continue to be killed and wounded in operations against Taliban-led forces. As of April 10, the Defense Department reported that 223 American service members have died and 710 have been wounded in operations in and around Afghanistan.

    Those who speak for the university are certainly correct to note that Mr. Hashemi is a non-degree student and was vetted and cleared for study in this country by the State Department. His presence at Yale is no doubt enlightening both for him and those who engage in discussion with him. But the university has appeared to be silent on the larger moral question of why someone who was a spokesman for a regime that committed crimes against humanity and facilitated the 9/11 attacks, and who has apparently never disavowed that regime or his role in it, has been allowed to take classes at Yale. That silence has provoked bewilderment and anger among many.

    In retrospect, the university should have made Mr. Hashemi's admission to the non-degree program contingent on his disavowal of the Taliban regime and his willingness to have the university make that disavowal public. As far as I know, he was not asked to do that. It could be he has disavowed the regime and the university is aware of that, either from him or those who supported his application, but cannot make that known because of the confidentiality of application materials. If that is the case, he should speak up or give the university permission to make that known.

    There is speculation he will apply for admission as a degree candidate in a program that gives preference to "applicants whose work/life experience and community involvements promise to add unusual dimensions to undergraduate life in the classroom." Any disavowal of the Taliban regime at this point might be viewed as an insincere gesture designed solely to improve his chances of admission. Nevertheless, in the absence of a disavowal, Yale appears to have no convincing response to those who ask why, given the nature of the Taliban regime, his role in it, its complicity in the 9/11 attacks, and his apparent failure or refusal to disavow the regime, Mr. Hashemi has been allowed to study at the university.

    Responsibility for the situation lies largely with the former dean of admissions who accepted him into the non-degree program. But being well versed in public relations, Mr. Hashemi must understand that he bears some responsibility for the damage done to Yale's reputation by refusing to disavow the Taliban regime once his presence in the university had become public knowledge. Moreover, he must realize that, given the furor over his current status, the university may not admit him without such a disavowal. As difficult as it may be, and as instrumental as it may appear, he should disavow the regime and his role in it. If he can't do that, he shouldn't be at Yale.

    Some may say that to ask Mr. Hashemi to disavow the regime is to impinge on his academic freedom. That is not the case. This has nothing to do with his political beliefs, whatever they may be. Rather, it has to do with the fact that he was an official spokesman of a regime that committed crimes against humanity and facilitated the 9/11 attacks, the remnants of which are engaged in military operations against American soldiers in southern Afghanistan.

    David Cameron
    Professor of Political Science
    Yale University
    New Haven, Conn.

    Prof. Hill defends Yale's admission of the former Taliban spokesman as "be[ing] open to the vast external world and provid[ing] a space for intellectual and personal interaction among differing perspectives," while Yale College Dean Peter Salovey writes that "universities are places that must strive to increase understanding, especially of the most difficult issues that face the nation and the world." These platitudes concerning the discussion of how a participant in one of the most evil regimes of the past 100 years was welcomed onto Yale's campus as a student makes it clear that Yale never thought through any of the issues the admission of Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi might raise before making the decision to accept him into its "nontraditional" student program.

    Yale's attempt to disguise its lack of consideration as somehow related to academic values by endless repetition of empty generalities without ever confronting the nature of the Taliban regime, Hashemi's involvement in it, or Yale's failure to think through its decision is both intellectually dishonest and morally reprehensible.

    Andrew P. Morriss
    Professor of Business Law
    and Regulation
    Case School of Law
    Cleveland

    Mr. Salovey first argues that Taliban spokesman Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi isn't really a student at Yale, even though allowed "to take courses for college credit." Well, if he is allowed to take courses, and those courses are for credit, Mr. Hashemi is a student at Yale no matter how nuanced Mr. Salovey's argument. Mr. Salovey further states "that universities are places that must strive to increase understanding, especially of the most difficult issues that face the nation and the world." If only this were true. In fact, Mr. Salovey's university is openly hostile to ROTC, an institution that trains young men and women to tackle some of the most intractable issues, and will not allow its presence on campus. Coupled with Yale faculties' overwhelming support of liberal causes and candidates, and general hostility to all things conservative, Mr. Salovey's defense is hardly credible.

    Charles Hill provides much of the same support for Yale's decision but adds a truly specious twist: "Mr. Hashemi . . . has never been charged with Taliban-style crimes." Does one have to be charged with "crimes" to be unacceptable to Yale? Would Joseph Goebbels have been welcomed by Yale? After all, he advocated for "Nazi-style" crimes but didn't "commit" them.

    Royal S. Dellinger
    Rockville, Md. 

It seems to me that the charitable interpretation is that Taliban Man's presence on campus inhibits Yale from admitting that it made a mistake. Yale's vacuous response and treatment of the issues as a matter of public-relations management is otherwise simply an inexplicable disgrace.
Posted by Scott at 07:06 AM
	
