The issue at hand is complex, emotionally charged, and close-to-home, making it tough to do the entire situation justice inside a small box with black-and-white ink. For this reason, I felt I needed to provide some background and details.
In this United States of Amnesia, it seems to me that many of my fellow Liberals need to apply their values abroad and not just at home--why is it only the conservative Wall Street Journal that is up in arms? James Kirchick writes about this well here.
Sayed Hashemi:
In 2005, Sayed Hashemi, the former "roaming ambassador" and a high-level diplomat for the Taliban began taking classes at Yale. Hashemi, undoubtedly, has a dubious past. He is most (in)famous for his appearance in Fahrenheit 911, and here at Yale for previous appearances and debates. Because we have yet to hear a clarion statement from Yale itself as to why, specifically, he should be a student, the issue is dividing students, alumni, and gaining a lot national attention.
Recently, the government of Afghanistan threatened to try Abdul Rahman for apostasy after renounced Islam and converted to Chrisitanity. This, however, is not a new practice. Under the Taliban in September, 2001, a group of Christian aid workers were put on trial for proselytizing Christianity. Hashemi defended the trial. Here is a picture of him holding one of the confiscated Christian books at a press conference. (Here is a speech Hashemi gave in March, 2001.)
The issue is how intimately tied Hashemi was with the radical factions of the Taliban (like the Ministry of Vice and Virtue)? Hashemi has stated that he neither advocated nor participated in the radical agenda we associate with the Taliban. Nontheless, he was their spokesperson; I believe this merits a clear statement of renunciation from Hashemi.
I urge you to read the New York Times Magazine piece on Hashemi entitled "The Freshman."
I do, however, also urge you to visit the website of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, which documents the gross abuses comitted against women under the Taliban, including footage of public executions and beatings. (Some of the content is graphic, but will serve as a stinging antidote for those with a case of amnesia.)
Yale's Decision:
The question of whether or not Hashemi should have been admitted is made even more pressing given the fact that Yale did not allow a group of brave Afghani women the same access to American education. In 2002, Paula Nirschel began a program that brings smart, hard-working, and courageous Afghani women to the United States and pays for their education. The deal, however, entails that these women return to Afghanistan to put their new knowledge into praxis, and help their country. Sadly, none of the Ivy League schools have participated in the program. Yale has argued that both Hashemi and the students seated next to him have a lot to learn in our interactions; I am hard-pressed to think that I could not learn as much, if not more, from (equally-qualified) Afghani women who perservered under the regime for which Hashemi was a propagandist.
For those who don't walk by his statue in the Old Campus of Yale everyday (depicted in the cartoon), Nathan Hale was a hero of the Revolutionary War and in the Yale class of 1773.
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