In a move transform NYU into “Global Network University,” the New York city-based private university has expanded beyond it’s Union Square and Houston reach to include a satellite campus in the Middle East. http://www.nyu.edu/public.affairs/releases/detail/1787
Beth Fertig from WNYC reports on the recent announcement:
“A-BOOO DUHHBEEE* will serve 2000 students when it opens in three years. It’s being built by the government of Abu Dhabi, and NYU hopes it will attract students from throughout the Middle East, Europe and South and Central Asia.”
In a less than 30 second story, Beth Fertig strangely enough closes the piece with a note on campus security:
“NYU will control campus security”
What the hell is that suppose to mean? Is the implicit message, “Don’t worry, we won’t leave the delicate matter of a student’s sense of safety in the inept emirate’s hands”?????
I have heard of more bombings and psycho mall and school massacres and rampages in the US, than I have ever heard of such a thing coming out of that emirate (I’m only making a campus security comparsion, so before you get all your panties twisted and bark off in tangentals about the UAE’s atrocious treatment of foreign workers, just be aware of the subject matter).
*I know, it’s better than “Apple Dubai,” but still, what’s so hard about saying “Abu Dhabi”????
Related posts:
- Justin Timberlake to perform in Middle East
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- Friends and Enemies in the Middle East
- America’s Senseless Middle East Policy
Hello from Azores – Faial Island.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
http://rotadashortencias.blogspot.com/
Posted by Lc | December 12, 2007, 12:26 pmMaytha, if you would just include the entire quote, there will be no need for outrage.
“And, she says NYU will control campus security.”
The “she” being referred to is Vice Chancellor Mariet Westermann. This is not the reporter editorializing, simply quoting the chancellor.
Any why would security be important?
“Vice Chancellor Mariet Westermann says students and faculty in the Islamic state will have the same personal and academic freedoms as in Washington Square.”
In other words, you’re not going to have people arrested and threatened with death for naming plush toys after Mohammed. (Not you, Mo, your namesake.)
Btw, I’m outraged by your outrage. From now on I am starting an official Special Team for Outrage Management and Prevention (STOMP).
STOMP shall heretheto be an unauthorized, insurgent force on KabobFest, employing Fast Response Teams to identify and put down outrage wherever it rears its misinformed head.
Before you Kabobers write your next piece of outrage, think carefully – “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do you, punk?!
To join STOMP, submit your resume in the comments below.
Posted by Victor | December 12, 2007, 12:56 pmIf I had a kid studying in the UAE, then yes, I would be interested in knowing who was running security. Being an American in an Arab country makes for an appealing target. The United States has done much to foster anti-american hatred around the globe, particularly in the Middle East, so the concern is valid.
Not every news story has to do with demonizing Arabs. These reflexive reactions only perpetuate mistrust and can potentially breed suspicion and even further hatred.
Posted by Anonymous | December 12, 2007, 6:15 pmI think these kids will get a scholarship:
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1625.htm
Posted by Anonymous | December 12, 2007, 6:19 pmWhat do you think of calling our current president “Abu Dubya”?
Posted by Roy | December 13, 2007, 6:27 amVictor obviously picks and chooses what words he reads when looking at a post.
The author writes “I have heard of more bombings and psycho mall and school massacres and rampages in the US, than I have ever heard of such a thing coming out of that emirate “
Now how can you argue against that, there is less violence per capita on school grounds in the middle east then there is in the United States. To bring up a seperate issue (the woman who was pardoned) illustrates a lack of knowledge about the region and the individual politics in each area. Generalizations are best kept on fox news.
Posted by Mr. Friendly | December 13, 2007, 7:28 amEdmond, no one here brought up that generalization except YOU. I didn’t even think to link the two until you mentioned it.
I addressed the root of Maytha’s post. Her impression was that the writer was biased against Arabs, and she used a specific quote to demonstrate this. I replied with the full quote, put it into context and proved how this was not the case. Done.
But you just can’t stand the thought of an issue being resolved. No, you need to go on with your linguistic meanderings, dissecting misinterpreting comments, on purpose, in order to sow conflict and breed confusion.
I just formed my opinion of you.
First impressions are a bitch.
Posted by Victor | December 13, 2007, 7:38 amYou would think that you could hold discourse with another without resorting to calling me a bitch.
I guess it was my own fault for assuming intellegent debate can exist when one side is an avowed racist.
The author may be wrong in her assertion of bias by the speaker, but to analyze the statement as it applies to the region and the current social atmosphere is not to be faulted.
I read the post as an exclamtion to why the statement about security had to be made? Cornell University opened a campus in the middle east, they never mentioned any security concerns. The speakers statement simply seems to be misplaced and at worst it could be deemed as a bias and innapropriate for such an institution. Also given the schools proximity to the epicenter of arab bias in america (excluding red states) the author is justified in asking for clarification.
Posted by Mr. Friendly | December 13, 2007, 7:50 amEdmund, I’m beginning to think you’re incapable of contextualizing information.
I did not call you a bitch. Read what I said, not what you feel I said.
The only racist here is you. Seconds ago on another post you spoke of my “european descent (presumably)”! You didn’t even know, and you resorted to race baiting, because that fits your racist stereotype for who can hold the beliefs that I speak of.
“The author may be wrong in her assertion of bias by the speaker”
There are no maybes about it!
She was wrong, that’s it. Even she knows it by now. There is no need to rub it in.
You’re hanging on to straws to justify continued comments that fit your template for anti-Arab bias.
The argument is over. There is no bias. No matter how badly you want there to be.
Posted by Victor | December 13, 2007, 8:01 amthe only person wrong here is you, victor.
Posted by lina | December 13, 2007, 12:26 pmVictor, insofar as I don’t have a life, it will be my mission to tear down your idiocy. The point was that she didn’t have to quote that. The press are, and are allowed to be, selective in what parts of interviews they choose to share. What selections they make are telling.
Maytha, violence in the US is aberrant, whereas it is a part of the system and the upbringing in those Islamo countries. We would never send our children off to murder innocent foreign civilians. Imagine!
Posted by Anonymous | December 14, 2007, 2:17 pmEdmund, when someone says they’re first impression of you is that you are a bitch, it doesn’t mean they are calling you a bitch. It also is not the last resort of someone who can’t articulate something coherent and logical, and so resorts to name “impressioning.” Make sure you are more accurate next time. He “impressioned” you a bitch. Get it right. Sheesh.
Posted by Anonymous | December 14, 2007, 4:56 pmTo the anon who said that if they had a kid in the UAE they’d be concerned about their safety-can’t you guys go without generalizing? The number of Australians, Europeans and Americans in the UAE is astounding, and they have been living there, safe and secure, for many years.
Posted by Mohammad | December 15, 2007, 9:29 amYes, I agree with Mohammed. And although I understand from whence your ignorance arises, allow me to share my own experience deep in the South of Lebanon right at the height of the Abu Ghraib “scandal” as an easily recognizable American woman. I was in a store alone once, a man walked up to me and said, in broken English, “Are you American?” Not thinking quickly enough to go for Canadian, I said, “Yes.” He said, “America good. Bush bad. But America good.”
Please be aware, although things do make people angry, they watch enough of our news to know what is going on here, and are perfectly as capable of appreciating nuance as we are.
Posted by Anonymous | December 15, 2007, 1:18 pmAgain, your outrage is baseless. Sure, UAE, Dubai and Kuwait have made great advances in recent years, but the Middle East is not the beacon of justice and moderation that you seem to think it is.Just because homosexuals in UAE are no longer beheaded, as elsewhere in the region, does not mean they're safe.More than two dozen gay Arab men — arrested at what police called a mass homosexual wedding — could face government-ordered hormone treatments, five years in jail and a lashing, authorities said Saturday.But you WOULD send your gay son to study in UAE, with no guarantees that he would be outside the indigenous "rule of law", right Mohammed?Or maybe you would support forced hormone therapy and 5 years in jail for your child. I don't think many Western parents would.I'm citing one example here. Do we REALLY need to get into the plethora of possibilities? From drug abuse to proselytizing (i.e. telling a Muslim about your non-Islamic faith) and sexual relationships, the range of culture shocks that will lead to lengthy jail sentences in the UAE – perhaps one of two or three most moderate GCC states – will leave any parent concerned.If anything, the article was meant to assuage such parents that their concerns are taken seriously, and that this should not deter them from sending their kids to study at UAE.You people are wearing blindfolds and asking the rest of the world to do the same; it's just not honest.
Posted by Victor | December 16, 2007, 12:55 pmBtw, Edmund, no one called you a bitch. I said, “First impressions are a bitch.” In other words, they’re easy to make and hard to break. So, what is my first impression of you? As described…
“..you just can’t stand the thought of an issue being resolved. No, you need to go on with your linguistic meanderings, dissecting [and] misinterpreting comments, on purpose, in order to sow conflict and breed confusion.”
You’re not a victim of Zionist oppression after all.
As for the Anon who felt it necessary to commit their life to “tear down” what I have to say, I am honored that your vitriol will be wasted on my account, and not on someone of greater value. To “tear down” is a child’s errand, and your commitment down this path speaks volumes to your state of mind and place in life. Perhaps in your future exchanges with me you will learn to “build up” as well.
Posted by Victor | December 16, 2007, 5:18 pmWell, if you were a parent concerned about your gay child’s well-being and security, you should probably not send them to school in the US either!
Many US states still have Sodomy laws, ones unrepealed, and even ones that specifically forbid “homosexual” sodomy
http://www.sodomylaws.org/usa/usa.htm
With some sentences of 10 years!!!
Posted by Maytha | December 17, 2007, 1:02 am