perfidy

Ministry readers are no doubt familiar with Yale's recent exercise in diversity admissions by enrolling former Taliban official Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi. Yes, it is in a non-degree program for non-traditional students, which some folks might feel makes it not so bad. But yes, he served the Taliban in an executive capacity and remains largely unrepentant of his earlier career in oppression, which rather trumps the details of whatever program he's in.

Yale continues to stonewall, issuing only a 100-odd-word statement to inquirers. The fallout over that extraordinarily poor decision, and the lack of response to critics of it, is like stepping in a big pile of poop. Then pretending that you don't smell it. Then when someone asks why you smell like that, you ask, "like what?"

There are some folks out there that have moved beyond shock and horror at this decision, and have gone straight into retribution. I don't know the stats, but certainly alumni giving will be down this year. It will have no effect on Yale's larger economic picture, given it's wealthier by far than a significant portion of the nations of the world. But at least by not giving to Yale this year you're not supporting an institution that rewards terrorists.

Others have been considering who better might be worthy of a free education at Yale, non-degree or otherwise. If someone were to ask me, "GL, who better to go to Yale for free than a former Taliban quasi-ambassador?", my first thought might be, "Um, everybody else other than that guy." After some thought, I was leaning toward my cat, Marco, who as half-Siamese and half-Burmese gets the South Asian tip, is neutered so in a sense transgendered, and is, I must emphasize, a cat- a trifecta of diversity goodness. He would be the only cat enrolled in the institution's history, would surely represent the feline perspective in campus life, and could work toward exposing the intolerance and ending the hate. Toward cats. And I should add that the Taliban in question has only slightly more formal education than my cat, so there's that too.

Upon more serious reflection though, I would answer General Khatol Mohammad Zai. General Zai is the only female general in the country, the only airborne soldier in the country (she's made 500-some jumps which is, in military jargon, nuts), and a single mom to boot. She does not command any men, and probably never will. But she has been a military officer for decades, and is certainly a symbol, perhaps an example for young women to emulate. Not sure about her earlier days as an officer at least nominally supporting the Russians in their fight against the mujaheddin, but hey, what's the worst that could happen- she's an old communist? Lord knows she wouldn't be the first of those running around New Haven.

Yale, give her a call. Invite her over. Give her an honorary degree or something. Just make some sort of effort to recognize that it's not OK to give free educations to people complicit in mass murder.

[wik]You know what, screw the honorary degree. Upon further reflection it would be much more valuable, both to broader society and Yale specifically, for General Zai to come to campus not to receive her Doctorate of Humane Letters, but to parachute in and just kick the shit out of Yale's precious Taliban man. I mean, to have a female Afghani paratrooper tear the ass out of the guy...well, that just makes sense to me.