Tali-Boola-Boola
John Fund at Opinion Journal has been absolutely relentless on the story about the former Taliban minister attending Yale. Today he’s covering the story of a young woman, a legal immigrant from Afghanistan, who is ever so much more deserving of a Yale education.
"Intrigued, I later called her up to get her full story. She left a refugee camp in Pakistan with her mother, Maroofa, and her four younger siblings in 2002. Like Mr. Hashemi she has only a high school equivalency degree, because schooling in the refugee camp was limited. Her mother can’t work and knows only basic English, so she and her sister Rona are the only means of support for the family beyond food stamps and $600 a month in housing assistance from the state.
I asked her what her life was like. "It’s hard, but certainly better than Pakistan," she told me. "I am very grateful, but I must work 50 hours a week and also go to class. Sometimes, I am so tired I can’t attend." She earns $8 an hour as a clerk in a local retail store.
I asked what she thought about Mr. Hashemi attending Yale with the help of a Wyoming foundation and a discount from Yale of 35% to 40% on tuition. "It’s like a nightmare that you can’t believe when you wake up," she told me. "This is a good country, but I think some people in New Haven are so complacent they don’t know what officials like Hashemi did to my people."
Fund reports that Yale’s president, Richard Levin has taken full control of the decision as to whether to admit Hashemi as a regular student. Apparently, pressure from students and alumni have begun to be felt.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Fund. Keep up the pressure.
The Ivory Tower | Gaius Monday, 27 March , 2006
By Mike's America, Monday, 27 March , 2006 @ 10:43 pm
Fund has been all over this and thank GOD he is.
I read that piece too and thought that here is an Afghan who deserves a place at Yale and whose presence there would say much more about the school’s committment to diversity.
By Gauis Arbo, Monday, 27 March , 2006 @ 10:58 pm
I agree, Fund is awesome. Debbie Bookstaber has a blog up at Townhall called Nail Yale. I was so surprised that she picked up a link to me - and used my post title, too.