Politics Daily

Ex-Colombian President Uribe Draws More Fire at Georgetown

Peter W. Fulham — 2010-11-12T08:56:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

As former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe Vélez concluded his first-semester teaching assignment at Georgetown University on Thursday, the controversy surrounding his faculty appointment remained close to the surface, with students and professors continuing to rail against his human rights record as president and his hiring at the Jesuit school. Thursday night, students held a farewell "vigil" outside of the university's Walsh Building to mark Uribe's last lecture on campus this term, the latest in a series of protests.

The tension has occasionally spilled over into Uribe's classes. In September, a protester (who was not a Georgetown student) was arrested during a question-and-answer session after a lecture. The man left his seat and began yelling at Uribe -- who served as Colombia's president from 2002 to 2010 -- condemning his record on human rights. Another protester shouted out during the arrest before leaving the auditorium.

As Georgetown's Distinguished Scholar in the Practice of Global Leadership, Uribe teaches in the School of Foreign Service.

According to his critics, Uribe oversaw a period of massive human rights violations in Colombia, the most serious of which allegedly include assassinations of labor leaders by the Colombian Army and the killing of civilians by paramilitary groups. Both the Colombian Army and paramilitary forces continue to be implicated in scandals known as "false positives," in which soldiers have killed large groups of civilians and reported the body counts as guerrilla casualties.

Walker Grooms, a Georgetown graduate student, attended one of Uribe's lectures last week and addressed the "false positive" concerns head-on, asking the former president how he reconciled his goal of "democratic security" for Colombia -- which has been torn since the 1960s by an armed conflict among right-wing paramilitaries, left-wing guerrillas, and government forces -- with estimates that the Colombian Army committed up to 3,000 civilian murders during his eight-year tenure.

According to Grooms, Uribe pointed out that he has fired many of the generals implicated in the "false positive" incidents. The former president also disputed the death toll estimate. "He said, 'Well, the number is wrong. The 3,000 number is inaccurate,' " Grooms said. "He couldn't give me a real number."

"He was extremely evasive in answering questions," Grooms added. "He's good at his talking points, and he knows how to stay with them, despite what you might ask him. But he dodged a lot, and he lied."

Carol Lancaster, the dean of the School of Foreign Service, declined to comment for this story. In a university statement announcing Uribe's hiring, Lancaster said, "President Uribe will bring a truly unique perspective to discussions of global affairs at Georgetown. We are thrilled that he has identified Georgetown as a place where he will share his knowledge and interface with Washington, and I know that our students at the School of Foreign Service will benefit greatly from his presence."

In September, Marc Chernick and Joanne Rappaport, Georgetown's two Colombianist scholars, wrote a letter to John J. DeGioia, the university president, urging him to fire Uribe. "Alvaro Uribe should be given every opportunity to vigorously defend himself in the appropriate national and international tribunals," the letter stated, referring to several legal charges pending against the former president and his aides, which include allegations that his administration orchestrated illegal wiretapping in Columbia and used illegal surveillance on human rights leaders in Spain. "However, Georgetown should not assist him by providing him with the cloak of its legitimacy through a faculty appointment."

In an interview with Politics Daily, Rappaport explained that her experience working with indigenous groups in Columbia has given her a searing perspective on the atrocities of the Colombian paramilitary and right-wing forces. She recalled a visit to the home of a community leader in Cumbal, a town near the Ecuador border, who told her how he was abducted on a bus traveling back to the small community.

"He wasn't sure who the attackers were," she said. "He thought maybe they were paramilitary. They planted guerrilla literature on him and accused him of being a guerrilla and tortured him for two days. The men who were taken off the bus with him were cut into pieces before his eyes."

Uribe's ties to Colombian groups that have committed massive human rights violations, Rappaport argued, make him unfit to serve on the Georgetown faculty. She also expressed concern for the safety of researchers from Georgetown who study in the South American nation, who could potentially become targets of guerrilla groups by virtue of Uribe's association with the university.

"I'm not saying that we can't find statesmen of varying political views who couldn't make a contribution," Rappaport said. "I think we could. I just don't think Uribe does, and I'm concerned about the fact that this was done behind the back of the faculty."

Some students at Georgetown, however, have expressed surprise over the uproar. "I was definitely shocked by the level of vitriol directed at him," said Andrea Michelsen, who has dual citizenship in the United States and Colombia. Although Michelsen acknowledged that Uribe's government had been marred by some corruption, she felt nonetheless that he benefited Colombia as president, especially through his efforts to promote security and combat the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the left-wing guerrilla group also known as the FARC.

"When I was a kid," Michelsen said, "we used to go to Columbia every summer. And then, starting in 1996, we stopped going. My dad absolutely, flat-out refused to go back. But after Uribe was elected, he said we could go back. We started to see concrete changes."

Indeed, Uribe enjoyed widespread popularity throughout his tenure, and he left office with an approval rating of 75 percent. During his presidency, Colombia's poverty rate dropped from 54 percent to 46 percent. In addition to improving the economy, Uribe is credited by supporters with reducing crime. According to Colombia's Ministry of Defense, murders dropped by 45 percent from 2002-2009, and kidnappings decreased by 90 percent.

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Louisiana Unprepared to Protect Children in Disasters

Peter W. Fulham — 2010-07-30T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, the state of Louisiana remains unprepared to protect children in the event of a natural disaster, according to a new report issued by Save the Children, the non-profit relief organization. The report, which the group published last week, revealed that Louisiana child care centers and public schools do not have plans in place to evacuate children, notify families of their children's location, or care for children with special needs during a crisis.

The report is the second from Save the Children on the nation's readiness to protect children in disasters; the findings in Louisiana are most troubling because more than 5,000 children were separated from their families in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In addition to its findings in Louisiana, the report revealed that only twelve states met the group's basic standards for protecting children -- an increase from five states last year.

Trey Williams, the communications director at the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, which oversees the state's child care centers, conceded that Save the Children's initial report had found legitimate problems, but he maintained that the state was in good shape overall.

"Facing disasters in Louisiana is something that we're prepared for," Williams said. "It's something that we've spent a lot of time on throughout the year, and so we think we are prepared should a disaster come."

Louisiana is currently revising its standards for child care centers, and if the state approves the changes -- which include mandating written disaster plans for child care centers, as well as parental notification plans -- Williams predicted they would go into effect by early 2011.

But the pace of change, explained Mark Shriver, the managing director of U.S. programs for Save the Children, has been too slow.

"Parents in this country and in Louisiana assume that when they drop their kids off, the kids have a plan that is going to keep them safe in that facility," Shriver said. "Louisiana and other states have not done enough, fast enough to ensure that children are safe in child care facilities. And to say that there's a bureaucracy or that it takes time is outrageous."

The report also focused on children in public schools. In New Orleans, 100 of the city's 128 public schools were either damaged or destroyed. The city's education system has since undergone almost a complete reorganization, with many public schools converting to independently governed charter schools. The Louisiana Department of Education, as well as the Louisiana Superintendent's Office, did not respond to repeated requests to comment for this article.

The lack of comprehensive child safety regulations prompted Sen. Mary Landrieu last year to propose the Child Safety, Care, and Education Continuity Act, which would require all states to meet standards similar to the regulations spelled out in the report. The bill, which is still pending in Congress, would also assist with providing health care and education to children in states affected by a presidentially-declared disaster.

The report comes as hurricane season is setting in and as Louisiana continues to reel from the fallout of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to Louisiana, the hurricane-prone states of Texas, Mississippi, and Florida also failed to meet many of the Save the Children standards.

The blame for the lack of readiness around the country, Shriver explained, was both a problem at the state and federal level. "There's plenty of blame to go around, but the bottom line is that for too long, kids have suffered benign neglect when it comes to their safety," Shriver said. "We all need to do a better job: the state governments, the federal government, and the non-profits."

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Politics: Five Rising Stars Age 25 and Under

Katie Glueck — 2010-07-24T23:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Bush Administration, Voting, Obama Administration, The Cram, 2010 Elections, Congress

It's been a big week for lists in Washington. Controversy surrounding the now-defunct liberal listserv, JournoList, continued to rage from the blogosphere to the Wall Street Journal op-ed page. Meanwhile, Politico released a list of the top 50 politicians to watch.

In keeping with that theme, here's a look at five up-and-comers who have yet to reach their 26th birthdays. If you haven't heard of them yet, you may soon.

Alejandra Salinas, 19, College Democrats of America

In 2006, at the height of a pitched battle surrounding illegal immigration, Alejandra Salinas organized a walkout at her predominantly Hispanic high school. Four years later, with immigration issues again at the fore, Salinas is poised to become the first Hispanic president of the College Democrats of America and its youngest leader in some time. She currently serves as the chairwoman of CDA's Hispanic Caucus. The 19-year-old rising junior at the University of Texas in Austin is running for the position unopposed on a platform of increased openness and accessibility.

"I live in a border town, and the immigration issue was coming up, but for some reason it wasn't being talked about in a place that's 98 percent Hispanic," Salinas said. "I thought it was my duty to say something, and when I started organizing ... I had never felt that excited, that passionate before. It was the feeling that, 'I want to do this the rest of my life, and I'll wake up happy every single day.' And that's how I got into politics."

Salinas's running mate, 29-year old Carnegie Mellon graduate student Joe Day, is 10 years older than she is, but Salinas tops the ticket in part because of her relationship with the Democratic National Committee in Washington. She interned in the offices of the chairman and the executive director there last summer. Salinas cited her experiences with College Democrats and with the DNC as helping her become both passionate and politically proactive.

"This organization opened my eyes to the power of youth organizing," she said. "When I organized the walkout in 2006, I felt like it was hard to have a voice as a young person in my community. But through College Democrats, I learned that it's okay for someone who's my age to be politically active, to have a voice, to make a difference."

What's Next?

"I love Texas, and it's really important for me to go back home to do what I can to help," Salinas said. "A lot of people want to go to D.C., make a name for themselves there, but for me, it's much more important to go home to fix things there."

That doesn't mean that Salinas is ruling out Washington completely, though her short-term goals center on law school and possibly an MBA.

"I want to come back and be a lawyer, and I don't think you need to be a congresswoman or mayor or governor to have an impact," Salinas said. "But if the opportunity opens up to run for mayor, for statehouse, for Congress, and if it's at the right time, then I would absolutely run."

Bakari Sellers, 25, South Carolina State Legislature

Bakari Sellers was barely old enough to drink when he beat a 26-year incumbent for a spot in the South Carolina state legislature in 2006. Sellers, now 25, is currently the youngest African American elected official in the country. He is running unopposed for his third term and works as a lawyer when the legislature is out of session. This former student body president of Morehouse College also served on President Barack Obama's South Carolina steering committee during the 2008 election. Like Obama, Sellers ran his own campaign on a platform of change.

"It was an urge I had, because my community wasn't growing, and it's my home and I wanted to give back to the people who'd given me so much," he said. "If not me, then who? If not now, when? We worked really hard and were able to pull off what many people said was not only improbable, but impossible."

Sellers said he uses his age to his advantage.

"When you're young, you have energy, and there's a certain part of us that thinks we're invincible," he said. "That helps give you that confidence to try, and if you get knocked down, to get back up again."

What's Next?

He's focused on legislative initiatives like a school lunch program that combats childhood obesity and a ban on texting while driving. Sellers, who represents the rural 90th district of South Carolina, said that for the moment, he's not thinking beyond his constituents and their needs.

"The governor does have a nice house, though," he added with a laugh.

Dylan Matthews, 20, The Washington Post

Read the blog of Washington Post celebrity Ezra Klein and you can't miss the work of his assistant, Dylan Matthews. Matthews is a rising Harvard junior, and like his boss, he has had a meteoric rise through the political blogosphere. At 14, Matthews started his own blog, at 16 he was freelancing for Slate, at 18 he worked at The American Prospect, and at 19 he signed on with Klein. Matthews guest-blogs and researches for Klein and also helps him produce Wonkbook, which is a left-leaning, more economically-focused version of Mike Allen's Politico Playbook. At the age of 20, Matthews has access to a national audience with whom he shares his views on complex, high-level policy matters.

"It's a tricky border to walk, but you have to have an appropriate humility about what you can do and yet have the confidence that if you have a smart point to make, to make it regardless of experience," he said.

Matthews said that a host of other bloggers, including Klein, have set a precedent for youthful representation in political discourse.

"People have acknowledged that young people, like Ezra or [blogger at Center for American Progress] Matt Yglesias, can do useful writing, or in Ezra's case, reporting, even if they haven't cut their teeth at the metro desk for 10 years, although that's incredibly useful as well," Matthews said.

What's Next?

"Part of what's so exciting about all this is I have no idea what kinds of jobs will be possible for me to have in 10 years," he said. "I hope to be in a position to explain policy and make it accessible to the public while being able to articulately argue for ones I think are right. Reporters our age, we have it really tough in a lot of ways, but people who do get in are in an environment of radical experimentation and new models of doing things. That's really exhilarating."

Guy Benson, 25, Talk Show Host and Political Blogger

It's been a tumultuous week in political journalism, from the echoes of JournoList to the Andrew Breitbart-Shirley Sherrod controversy, and Guy Benson, 25, is in the thick of it all. As the youngest big-market political talk show host in America, Benson is also a commentator on conservative sites like Breitbart's Big Journalism -- a post of Benson's about the Sherrod incident drew the ire of the progressive Media Matters for America Wednesday. A graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, Benson is currently based in Chicago, where he also blogs for National Review and Breitbart's other sites, Big Hollywood and Big Government. Come September, he said he is moving to D.C. to serve as the new political editor for the conservative site Townhall.com.

"Conservative principles are the best thing for the country and since I'm young and, God willing, am going to be living in this country for decades to come, I have an even greater incentive to fight for the country's future," he said.

Benson acquired his own show at the age of 22 after a manager at the Chicago station read a profile of the aspiring journalist in Northwestern's alumni magazine. Impressed with Benson's track record of three summers at Fox News, a summer in the Bush White House and experience co-hosting a political talk show at Northwestern, the manager offered him a job and, within months, his own show. Benson said he was considerably younger than most people with whom he worked, so he tried to strike a balance between knowing his place and asserting himself.

"I want to be treated seriously and professionally, but I also understand that, hey, I am pretty young," he said. "It's a balance of being professional and not being afraid to showcase some talent, but also being respectful, open to learning and paying your dues. Part of it is not taking yourself too seriously and not taking things too personally."

What's Next?

Inside Washington's Beltway, for Townhall.com. But Benson said he is also exploring whether he can continue doing his radio show from D.C. He will continue to guest-host for prominent conservative Hugh Hewitt, whose radio show is nationally syndicated.

*Disclosure: this Politics Daily writer also attends Medill and has written for Northwestern's alumni publication.

John Kleinhans, 20, Vermont Politics

When John Kleinhans fidgets with his BlackBerry in class, it's possible that he's checking Facebook. But it's more likely that he's texting with Vermont state representatives, some of whom he taught how to text in the first place. Kleinhans is barely an upperclassman at Vermont's Lyndon State College -- he'll be a junior this fall -- but he is already a significant presence in the Vermont Republican Party. He's spending the summer working as the campaign coordinator for Mark Snelling, a candidate for lieutenant governor. In that capacity, Kleinhans is with Snelling around the clock, doing a little of everything -- prepping the candidate for interviews, driving, sitting in on editorial meetings, working on strategy, and more. The two met on the campaign trail last fall, during Kleinhans's unsuccessful run for secretary of the Vermont Republican Party Executive Board.

"I saw him on the campaign trail a bunch and we got to talking," Kleinhans said. "It was a perfect fit. I think he respected my work for the College Republicans, which is how I wound up where I am."

In his freshman year of college, Kleinhans became the country's youngest state chairman of the College Republicans. Under his leadership, the Vermont College Republicans went from a membership of five to around 150 active students, Kleinhans said. He's also been named one of the top 12 college Republicans in the country by the College Republican National Committee, an organization for which he serves as Northeastern regional vice chairman. And in his spare time, Kleinhans is student body president of Lyndon College.

"All young people should be involved in politics because it's our future that people are deciding," Kleinhans said. "It's also a lot of fun. You can connect with leaders across the country, you can go and have conversations with the governor, the lieutenant governor, and they actually listen to you."

What's Next?

"In the direct future, I'm contemplating a run for chairman of the CRNC (College Republican National Committee) -- that's still in the very beginning thinking process, but we're working on it," he said. "I also plan to go to law school. At some point I may try to seek public office, but I love what I'm doing right now. I'm having a lot of fun."

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Online Donations Fight Student Debt at ScholarMatch, SponsorMyDegree

Samantha Michaels — 2010-07-23T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

For years, teenagers have used the Internet to connect with their families and friends. Now, they're using it to connect with strangers who can help them pay for college.

Take Eddie Ashley, a recent graduate of Oakland Technical High School in California. As a high school senior, Ashley wasn't sure how he would pay for his first year at the University of California Riverside, where he hoped to pursue a career goal in environmental engineering. He had lost his mother to an autoimmune disease in middle school, and although he managed to maintain good grades while caring for his younger siblings, the high school senior had limited funds for tuition.

Then one day, best-selling author Ayelet Waldman went online and found Ashley's profile on ScholarMatch.org, a new website that connects kind-hearted donors with San Francisco Bay Area high school students. Launched in late April, the website is the brainchild of Dave Eggers, author of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." On ScholarMatch, students create free profiles with personal quotes, educational hopes and scholarship goals. Online visitors can then register as potential donors and earmark funds for a particular student, or they can ask the ScholarMatch staff to choose a student for them. Waldman, who learned about ScholarMatch in an e-mail announcement from Eggers, stumbled upon Ashley's story.

"It seemed to me that Eddie was the kind of person who was going to college no matter what," she said. "The question was, would it break his back to go, or could we make it a bit easier for him?"

After registering, Waldman jumpstarted a community campaign to help Ashley reach his goal. She began by getting the word out to her 45,000-person mailing list, promising her friends, family and readers that she would match their donations to Ashley dollar for dollar. She also said she'd donate $5 every time somebody bought her new paperback novel, or $10 for every hardcover purchase.

Within a week, Ashley had reached his scholarship goal; with money from ScholarMatch, the Bay Area teen was headed to college.

As Tuition Rises, Filling the Financial Gap

The roots of the words "university" and "college" both mean community, but the cost of higher education excludes many aspiring students. During the past 20 years, the price of college tuition has increased more than any other major good or service, according to Anya Kamenetz, a Fast Company magazine writer who examined student debt for her book, "Generation Debt" and recently published the book "DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education."

"My research says that college affordability is terrible, and it's worse than it's ever been," she said.

At some private colleges and universities, tuition can reach $50,000 or more a year. Though public universities tend to charge a smaller fee, their tuition costs have also been rising, and government support is often unable to keep up.

To meet these skyrocketing costs, many college students turn to borrowing. According to a study by the College Board, there were more than $95 billion in student loans disbursed during the 2008-2009 academic year, with students at for-profit colleges most likely to borrow.

If they aren't careful, however, students can get stuck in a debt trap. About 60 percent of all graduates had some student debt in 2007-08, and a tenth of those debtors had taken at least $40,000 in loans. That's about 206,000 people, or a nine-fold increase since 1996, according to The Project on Student Debt.

ScholarMatch began partly because Eggers knew that traditional sources of college funding just weren't enough. He came to this realization when he saw that his own existing scholarship program could only help a handful of students. The program was organized by 826 Valencia -- a nonprofit tutoring, writing and publishing center that Eggers co-founded -- and it provided financial relief to some of the region's needy high school seniors.

"Every year, 826 Valencia would give five scholarships, but the other 100 applicants would go wanting," he explained in a press release.

Eggers decided he should help the wanting students, too.

"It's a heartbreaking process because all the applicants are amazing, and you've got to choose five," said Miel Alegre, ScholarMatch's director of operations. "So Dave [Eggers] got the idea to involve the community and start a website."

The Match-Making Process

When Eggers got his idea, he visited local high schools to spread the word. Alexis Vallin, 17, learned about ScholarMatch after she was not selected for one of 826 Valencia's annual scholarships.

"I went on the website and created my profile, and it was really easy," she said. "A month later I received an e-mail that somebody had donated for me."

The website has about 100 student users, and most hail from low-income households.

"In the back of my mind, I always had somebody telling me that I wouldn't be able to go anywhere because my parents don't have any money," said Vallin, who recently reached her ScholarMatch funding goal and will be attending college this fall.

Before a student can post a profile, they are vetted for college acceptance and financial need. To ensure confidence in the process, all donations are sent directly to the college, as opposed to a student's personal bank account. After students enroll, they stay connected to their donors via e-mail updates about school.

The average scholarship goal is $5,000, and it is often reached through multiple donations.

"We've had donors give $50, we've had donors give $5," said Alegre. "We're excited to see that this is a community effort."

Since ScholarMatch launched at the end of April, eight students have been fully funded, and about 20 students have received some money. All donations go toward tuition, though they do not necessarily fund the full amount. Instead, they fill a financial gap.

"People get into college and they get some money, but that never covers everything," said Alegre. "ScholarMatch gives students that extra nudge they need."

The website is currently limited to high school students in the Bay Area, but in time, Alegre said ScholarMatch will expand to accommodate more students across the country.

Microgiving and Online Scholarship Resources

Though ScholarMatch is just getting off the ground, it is part of a larger trend toward online college fundraising.

"People are used to using social media, social networking and Google to find everything they need," said Kamenetz. "Whereas the application for student financial aid is a heavy form to fill out, you can also go online and do searches for Fastweb. So people find a more convenient way to find sources of money."

In particular, ScholarMatch follows a crowd-funding model that has inspired everyone from philanthropists to politicians. During the 2008 presidential race, President Barack Obama made headlines when he used small online contributions to help fund his $456 million campaign, with a quarter of his donors giving less than $200. Writers, filmmakers, inventors and others are using Kickstarter to raise money for all sorts of ventures, from an art and urban farming project to an independent puppet show production.

On Kiva.org, lenders can browse profiles of borrowers in the developing world, offering small loans to entrepreneurial projects, or perhaps to help a farmer buy fertilizer for crops. A man named Kushal Chakrabarti applied a similar idea to college financing in 2007 when he created Vittana, a non-profit organization that provides small loans to international students for college or trade school. Vittana's lenders have helped send about 200 students to school in Peru, Cambodia, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Mongolia and Vietnam, often $10 or $25 at a time.

In 2008, a Colorado couple created SponsorMyDegree.com to help college students in the United States. Like Kiva and Vittana, the website takes an adopt-a-student approach -- though it solicits donations, not loans. It parallels ScholarMatch in many ways, as its student-users also create profiles and ask strangers for tuition money.

The website's founders, Henner and Lilac Mohr, created the first two profiles.

"When we were in college we had a lot of student debt, and we thought if we begged online someone might help us out," said Henner.

Today, their website has about 10,000 users nationwide. Compared to Kiva or Vittana, however, SponsorMyDegree may be harder to keep up.

"Our model is more like a charity," Henner said. "We have to pay out of our pocket to keep it going. . . . With Kiva, you've got built-in loans so it's more sustainable."

Still, Henner said he is always surprised by the willingness of strangers to give.

"It's just amazing to see the generosity that's out there."

Millenials, Student Debt and Online Privacy

Websites like ScholarMatch and SponsorMyDegree reflect generational preferences, highlighting how college students today approach debt and online privacy.

According to Katie Elfering, a consumer strategist at Iconoculture who researches the Millennial generation, media and technology, today's students view debt differently than those who came before them. Many older Millennials, or people in their mid- to late-20s, saw college debt as a given and as more of an investment than a crippling burden. Today's recession-era students, or the younger Millennials, talk more with parents, teachers and advisers about financial issues. They started to consider how student debt might affect their aspirations after graduation.

"They're learning from the mistakes of older generations," said Elfering.

These lessons have led to creative approaches to avoiding debt issues.

"This generation tends to be very solutions-oriented and collaborative" she said. "They like finding actionable solutions that have them moving forward, even if they are small scale."

Microgiving fits well with this approach. Rather than trying to solve all their debt problems in one swoop, college students can ask for help from several potential donors.The popularity of social media sites like Facebook or MySpace may also affect how people share information and solicit help toward a certain goal.

"We've seen massive networks take hold and now we're seeing a bit more fragmenting," said Elfering. "People are looking for something more practical and useful, as opposed to something only rooted in connections."

But as students grow accustomed to sharing personal information online, are they sacrificing too much privacy? On SponsorMyDegree, one student revealed intimate details about her battle with anorexia, while another wrote about her mother's difficult divorce. By tugging on people's heart-strings, students could be hoping for some added generosity. But this openness could also be a generational trait.

"This generation has never known an Internet where privacy has really existed," said Elfering. "For Millennials, the mindset has always been that if someone wants my information, there's only so much I can do to protect it."

Perhaps the issue is less about privacy and more about control. Some people feel comfortable putting information into online profiles because they can determine how it's presented.

"It's a way for them to feel in control of their destiny, but it's also a way to feel in control of how people perceive them," said Elfering.

When it comes to financial discussions, students also harbor fewer inhibitions due to the economic recession.

"There is an increasing willingness to talk about money issues and college affordability," said Kamenetz. "Students don't see any shame in it because [debt] is just so common."

Still, the founders of ScholarMatch and SponsorMyDegree encourage student-users to take precautions. On ScholarMatch, people must register as potential donors in order to view a student's complete personal essay. ScholarMatch staff members must also approve a profile before it goes public.

"The personal essay can be really intimate," said Alegre. "We don't censor it, but for the purpose of keeping our students safe, we remind them that this information will be semi-public. We help them represent themselves in a way that will help them get donors."

Will Microgiving Make its Way to Universities?

Colleges may decide to follow the lead of peer-to-peer giving platforms like ScholarMatch -- perhaps by creating their own, institution-specific versions for current students and alumni.

"I wouldn't be surprised if colleges start offering these opportunities as selling points for students to help them afford tuition," said Elfering.

In May of 2009, three Harvard graduates launched Unithrive.org, a nonprofit website that matches alumni lenders with financially-needy Harvard students. The website is currently limited to undergraduates at Harvard University, but the founders have plans to expand to other institutions this summer.

These websites could foster a stronger sense of connection between alumni and students, but some financial aid experts doubt that universities will jump to the idea. As president of a higher education enrollment consulting firm, Jim Day talks with colleges about financial aid policy, family finances and initiatives they might undertake to help students pay for their degree. He has discussed similar websites in meetings with clients, but the discussions are often short-lived-partly because colleges want to respect each student regardless of financial status.

"[They] try hard to make sure each student feels herself to be, and is seen as, a full member of the campus community, with aid status invisible except between the student and the aid office," Day wrote in an e-mail.

Additionally, universities usually do not base aid awards on individual narratives. For the sake of fairness and objectivity, they tend to examine financial need, academic preparation or talents instead. Although colleges do not want to prevent students from accessing outside scholarships, many wouldn't want to sponsor a website that matches individual alumni lenders with individual student borrowers.

Still, universities do tend to examine students' circumstances individually, and with great care.

"Every college I've ever encountered works really hard to help its students afford school and stay enrolled through degree," Day wrote. "Alumni-giving for student aid is always a focus of the development operation, though of course there may still not be enough money to address all circumstances or students."

Though colleges might not be ready yet, Elfering believes they will re-evaluate their financial aid strategies eventually.

"Students don't have to be wearing t-shirts that say 'I'm using a sponsor for financial aid,' " she said. "But I think colleges will have to meet students half-way."

Yet if colleges do create peer-to-peer giving websites, some experts question how much it will reduce student debt. Kamenetz said the public and private sectors should concentrate on lowering the cost of school, not just creating new ways for students to pay for it.

"The solution is not for us to funnel more taxpayer or private money to college education," she said. "The bigger issue is cost control. Your ability to access a college education shouldn't hinge on your ability to write a begging letter."

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Wind Farms Generating Energy and Jobs in Iowa

Matt Vasilogambros — 2010-07-16T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

In Cedar Rapids, hundreds of workers have found employment with Clipper Turbine Works, one of many forward-looking companies found these days in Iowa's "Wind Belt." Clipper has emerged from what was the faint memory of the heavy manufacturing business, which up until recently had been shifting overseas. Those who once worked with manufacturers of printing presses and coal trucks are being reborn in this new economy and its need for clean energy.

In recent years, public perception of wind-generated power has shifted from a research and development project to a realistic source of electricity. Iowa has taken advantage of this new growth and is now seen as one of the national leaders in wind energy.

But how has this industry become such a mainstay in Iowa, and how have corporations taken advantage of new opportunities?

A Modern Manufacturing Destination

Companies have flocked to Iowa to establish plants that would, in effect, supply the Wind Belt with turbines and jobs. One of these companies is TPI Composites, which built a plant in Newton in 2009 and has already tripled their staff to over 500. According to spokeswoman Marcia Scott, TPI's Newton plant is contracted to produce turbine blades for GE Energy. GE then distributes the finished turbines throughout the country.

Clipper Turbine Works' manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids produces the generators and hubs for wind turbines. Bob Gates, Clipper's senior vice president for commercial operations, noted that Clipper has a good working relationship with the Iowa government, and that their continued support of wind energy development -- including tax credits -- has helped Clipper grow.

"There is a workforce culture oriented toward manufacturing of precision equipment," he said. "Cedar Rapids is part of [that], the heartland of America for manufacturing, so to speak."

Gates said that one of the reasons wind energy has become so successful in Europe is support from governments. The state of Iowa has followed in those footsteps.

Pete McRoberts, a spokesman for Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, said that Iowa has harnessed wind energy and its position in the center of the Midwest Wind Belt. The office believes the only way to achieve energy independence is through natural and renewable resources.

"Iowa has embraced both the energy production element of wind power, but also the economic development angle in terms of literally building the towers, blades and turbines here in Iowa -- creating jobs, while producing clean, green energy," McRoberts said.

Since many local manufacturing jobs have gone overseas recently, Clipper has been able to provide jobs to a base of experienced manufacturers, many without leaving town -- Clipper's current factory used to build newspaper printing presses.

Clipper started production in 2006, building nine turbines at its start. By 2008, the factory produced an annual record of more than 300 turbines. Demand has dipped, though, and Clipper is currently on schedule to produce 150 turbines this year.

Bob Loyd, a 35-year veteran of heavy manufacturing, is the plant manager for Clipper's Cedar Rapids operation. Although he never worked with wind turbines previously, his expertise in heavy manufacturing allowed for a smooth transition.

"In this state, looking at wind turbines isn't something new," he said. "I've always, personally, been intrigued by them. The chance for me to get on building a product that I think is really neat and the country really needs -- it helps us with our energy supply issues without a carbon footprint, it has the possibility of getting us away from foreign oil -- that's exciting."

Eight other companies have started production in the state, including Siemens in Ft. Madison and Heartland Energy Solutions in Mt. Ayr.

By bringing these companies into the equation and building strong support from the state legislature, Iowa's wind-generated power industry has grown quickly. According to the American Wind Energy Association, 14 percent of Iowa electricity is provided by wind -- an astounding figure that rivals Denmark and Germany.

"It seems to be very welcome," said Rick Tucker, the production supervisor for tooling, fixturing and new equipment installation for Clipper. "If you're out in society and people ask you what you do and say, 'Well, I work for a wind turbine company, we build wind turbines,' everybody gets really excited about it. I see a really big swing in green."

Wind Farming

The newest generation of wind turbines -- Generation IV -- have been in use since 1996. With towers reaching some 200-300 feet in the air, these turbines can produce up to 2.5 megawatts (MW) of electricity. The units can cost up to $2.5 million, which seems reasonable when considering that one current turbine equates to 23 of the Generation I-era turbines. It also is $1 million cheaper than the previous generation of turbine that produced four times less power.

In order to get a wind turbine on your land, development companies set up meteorological towers that log wind velocity for one year in order to determine the placement of the turbine and the land's potential for wind-generated power. If the data checks out, then private companies work with farmers to set up the turbines.

For a quarter-acre piece of land, companies pay farmers $5,000-7,000 per month for the real estate -- more money than a quarter-acre's worth of crops. Plus, after the installation, the farmers can turn the installation areas back into farm land.

"Most of the stories I've heard is that farmers are usually going to meetings and wondering why they don't have more," Loyd said.

There is some opposition to wind turbines, though. Environmental groups are concerned with the number of birds that fall victim to the wind turbines. However, with the new required "pre-construction avian study," bird deaths are now a rarity on wind farms. In fact, wind turbines only cause three out of every 100,000 bird deaths, according to the National Academy of Sciences.

Colleges have also developed wind energy programs. The Iowa Wind Organization -- comprised of University of Northern Iowa, Iowa State University, University of Iowa, DMACC, Kirkwood College, and Iowa Lake Community College -- has created curricula aimed at educating wind energy technicians.

Harold Prior, the president of the Iowa Wind Energy Association (IWEA), was the president of the Iowa Lakes Community College until 2009 and worked closely with the wind energy and turbine technician associate's degree program. When he started, the program had 35 students and two faculty members. Today, it enrolls 165 students and has a waiting list.

The IWEA's purpose, Prior said, is to take a broad look at all of the interest holders in the wind industry and see how to promote the power in the state. Prior also said that the IWEA also spends a great deal of time lobbying at the state capitol.

Where Wind Will Take Us

After a 50 percent loss in wind power development from 2008 to 2009, funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped create 9,922 MW of new wind-generated power capabilities last year. This expanded the country's wind-generated power by 39 percent, according to a report by the American Wind Energy Association.

President Barack Obama has called for 20 percent of the country's energy supply to come from wind-generated power by 2030. If the U.S. reaches that goal, nearly 500,000 "green collar" jobs would be created in areas like manufacturing, equipment service, and design. The power that would be generated through wind would equate to taking 140 million vehicles off the road.

The next step for American wind power is to move turbines off shore. Because these winds are less turbulent than ones on land, and there isn't anyone to complain about the sound they create, two-blade turbines can run faster than on land, producing more electricity. In fact, President Obama approved what will be the first off-shore wind farm on April 28. The 130-turbine farm will be off the shore of Cape Cod in the Nantucket Sound. Since then, environmental groups have filed the first lawsuits against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for what they say are violations in federal laws that protect migratory birds and whales. Administration officials have dismissed the charges, citing a thorough evaluation of the wind farm's environmental impact.

However, before companies start adding turbines off shore, experts are calling for an updated power grid system. The current grid is over 50 years old, hindering wind electricity producers from getting their product out to American homes. Currently, after the power is generated and transferred to the substations, the electricity is sent to the power grid, but the transmission lines are nearly maxed out by the combination of old and new sources of energy.

The 2030 mark is ambitious, but Clipper's Bob Loyd thinks if states start reevaluating where they get their energy and understand that some of those sources will be unreliable in years to come, the goal is not beyond reason.

"I think the state of Iowa shows it can be done, and it can be done pretty quickly," he said. "I think there's other states that are waking up. I think people are getting serious about it and I think it is realistic."

For now, wind energy seems to be promising for the country, especially in Iowa, where, according to the AWEA, 3,188 MW of power capacities are currently under construction. That is equivalent to providing electricity for 3,188,000 homes. As a nation, the U.S. is also showing promise, topping the charts of total installed capacity (just above Germany), and in new capacity (above China), according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

Instead of looking toward less efficient and clean energy sources, Tucker said, the U.S. should harness wind's proven clean power.

"Sure, I'm in the business here, it helps me because it's my job," he said. "But the end result is it will help all of us in the long run. We need to try to get away from the fossil-burned fuels and the import of oil to support electric energy. We've got the fuel here. It's called wind. Let's use it."

For now, those in the wind business will be monitoring the recent complaints against the Nantucket wind farm. If the project proves a success, factory managers like Loyd will see a boost in production output as wind continues to develop into a major U.S. energy source.

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Colombian Higher Education Reform: Increasing Access, Eyeing U.S. Solutions

Andrea Patino — 2010-07-14T15:15:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

If you live in Bogotá, there are street entertainers everywhere. At traffic lights, you may find a monocyclist juggling knives. Storytellers keep people occupied on buses. Hundreds of young people in Colombia are in the streets entertaining for a couple of coins. Karen, a third year psychology student at the Javeriana University in Bogota, was recently selling homemade chocolate lollipops for one thousand Colombian pesos, or fifty cents, in order to help pay her $6,000 annual tuition and the expenses of her family.

The prices of higher education in Colombia prevent many young people from attending college or force them to work hard, like Karen, in order to pay tuition fees. Though the average Colombian university tuition fee is about $6,000 a year, and the most expensive school costs $14,000, the average per capita GDP in Colombia is only $9,200 per year (in the U.S. per capita GDP is $46,500, and though private four-year colleges average $26,000 in tuition, many students pay much less after grants and in-state reductions). In Colombia, 48 percent of the population lives under the poverty line, as as opposed to 12 percent in the U.S.), and the minimum monthly salary is $252.

According to a study by the Colombian government, only about 23 percent of young Colombians (aged 18 to 24) continue their education after high school, while in American between 62 percent to 69 percent of high schoolers enroll in college. This disparity contrasts with the countries' similar literacy rates -- of those aged 15 or older, 90 percent of the population in Colombia can read and write, and the U.S. has a rate of 99 percent. Unfortunately for its citizens, Colombia's widespread access to primary schooling does not extend to higher education.

The government has worked to improve access to education through a group of reform policies called Revolución Educativa. Yet Colombia still only spends 0.4 percent of its GDP on education, while many other Latin American countries spend three times that amount. The consequences of limited higher education opportunities are particularly apparent in economic mobility data -- of all Colombian college students, only 3 percent come from the poorest 20 percent of the population, while 52 percent come from the richest 20 percent (a 2003 report cites similar but more balanced numbers among U.S. college students, particularly for "lower and middle tier" colleges).

Colombian universities offer a variety of scholarships that consider financial need and academic merit. In their senior year, all high school students are required to take the ICFES, a standardized test similar to the SAT, to graduate and gain university admission as well as determine their chosen field of study. Contrary to the American education system, in Colombia a student has to apply to a specific university department, and changing majors is the equivalent of changing careers and starting all over again.

The University of the Andes, the most expensive and one of the best universities in Colombia, offers a variety of scholarships to help students who can't afford the high tuition fees. Since 2002 the university has helped 780 students through the financial aid plan Quiero Estudiar and other special programs, which take into consideration ICFES results and financial situations. However, only 38 of those students have graduated -- some students fell behind and are still finishing school while many others retired for personal reasons or lost the benefits due to low academic performance (the 2003 report cited above found similar trends in the U.S. among college students with lower socioeconomic status).

The struggle for young adults doesn't end with the admissions process. Regardless of their degree and career choice, it is difficult for young adults to find a job after college. Ana María Gomez described the disappointment she felt during her last semester as a student of publicity in Bogota. In one of her capstone classes, students were supposed to receive professional training from companies who had partnered with the university and would potentially offer job opportunities to graduates. But there were few total partnering companies, and those that worked with students often said that they didn't have the money to hire a publicist. "If potential clients can't even afford to pay publicity students, they won't employ new professionals who have just graduated from college and who would be more expensive to hire. It is sad and concerning that these are the conditions that define our future professional lives," Gomez told me.

My own experience studying in the U.S. has made me realize the gap between the two educational systems and, most importantly, what they offer in terms of future opportunities. While it is true that Colombia has some of the most outstanding universities in Latin America--though just a small percentage of the population can afford them--there are many aspects of education that are in need of profound change. In America, the flexibility of the academic curriculum gives students the chance to explore career paths without risking as much time or money. Moreover, study abroad programs are widely available in the U.S. Though I often find a lack of critical engagement with such opportunities at Duke, in my two years of college I have learned the most through my visits to four different countries through various academic programs.

I am part of a minority in Colombia that has had the chance to complete their entire undergraduate studies abroad. I know numerous others that have been able to stay a year or two overseas, but the truth is that most of them are from the upper-middle and upper classes. In fact, I would have never been able to pay for a university like Duke without financial aid, and once I received a generous aid package from Duke, I didn't even consider Colombian education. While money is the main reason for students not to study abroad, other reasons like the lack of a second language are also significant (for instance, only 4 percent of the population speaks English).

Given the lack of opportunities after college (unemployment today is at 12 percent), many might believe that going to school in Colombia is not worth the time or the money. After all, finding a job after college has become almost an impossible task (many in the recession-strapped U.S. are making similar claims about the college investment). Studies in fields like publicity or visual art in Colombia look particularly impractical, as 39 percent of employers in the country say that a university degree is required for only two of the ten types of positions they are most often looking to fill. Practical or not, however, the government can't deny any young adult the opportunity to study and thus, much more significant reforms must be put into action as soon as possible.

From violent conflicts to widespread poverty, Colombia faces many challenges in addition to increasing access to education -- indeed, for the first time in the country's history, the government in 2009 spent more money on defense and security than on education. While higher education does not guarantee social mobility, there is clearly untapped potential in Colombia's young people and their capacity to help the country shift away from rule by a small elite class. What students do with new opportunities, gained through hard-won reform, could create ripple effects felt far beyond the lively streets of Bogota.

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Missouri's Proposition C Vote: 'Health Care Freedom Act' Set to Test Obamacare

Andrew Clark — 2010-07-12T14:45:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

For those of you who have still been watching the debate over the health care reform law: something's happening next month that could take it to a whole new level.

On August 3, the voters of the state of Missouri will go to the polls to cast a ballot on Proposition C, also known as the "Health Care Freedom Act." The measure has passed in the Missouri House and Senate, and it is now going straight to the people. If approved by the voters, the act would amend state statutes to effectively shield Missourians from complying with the federal health reform law, protecting them from fines and penalties, and would "prohibit any person, employer, or health care provider from being compelled to participate in any health care system."

It has been nearly four months since President Obama and Democrats passed their landmark health care reform bill after weeks of intense debate. The debate has since simmered, but questions remain about the bill's future. In April, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported that the bill would increase health care spending. All spring and summer, more attention has been paid to the fact that Massachusetts's similar 2006 health care law is creating significant coverage, cost, and other issues in the the state. On July 5, Rasmussen Reports found that 60 percent of Americans favor repeal of the law. And on July 7, Republican Senators (and doctors) Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John Barasso (R-WY) released a highly-critical oversight report on Obamacare's first 100 days.

After months of rallies and protests for and against the bill, the American people have not yet had a single chance to actually cast a vote on Obamacare. August 3 will be the first time anywhere in the country that voters will be able to make their voices heard in a clear-cut fashion. As one blogger from Red State opposed to Obamacare phrased it: "We've been forced to speak through rallies and a diminished Republican party, until now. Now there is an opportunity for the average voter to act upon that disgust."

If the Health Care Freedom Act passes in Missouri, especially by a large margin, the "repeal Obamacare" armada will be recharged. The Tea Party, conservative Republican candidates, and a plethora of advocacy groups will trumpet (and no doubt exaggerate) a huge victory against Obama's big-government agenda. The victory, of course, will be a mostly symbolic one, as courts usually rule that federal law trumps state law. In many ways what happens in Missouri may only be a small skirmish in the larger war to repeal Obamacare. However, a victory will provide a much needed morale boost to those who have been fighting for repeal since the day the legislation passed.

Consider that attorney generals in twenty states (all Republicans) have filed lawsuits against the federal government, setting up an interesting White House fight in the Roberts Supreme Court. Activists in other states are also working on launching repeal efforts, at least in states where repeal is favored; meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress have relaunched their repeal push. A win in Missouri would be proof that support for repeal -- at least on a state level -- is politically sustainable nearly half a year after passage, and would spur conservative activists in other states to increase their efforts.

With Democrats' attention focused on the struggling economy, high unemployment, trouble in Afghanistan, the Gulf oil spill disaster, and the looming deficit, a win in Missouri is the last thing national Democrats need right now. Yet, if the proposition passes, they will have to address it as angry voters get again question their elected officials.

Proposition C's passage could even have some implications for Obama's re-election campaign in 2012. In 2008, Missouri bucked a near century-long trend of always voting for the presidential winner when John McCain won the state by a mere 4,000 votes. Missouri is considered a fine cross-section of the United States electorate, and a challenge to Obama's signature legislative accomplishment there could tell the White House that it will not play well elsewhere come 2012. Obama has made several trips to Missouri since his inauguration; if Missouri has abandoned him, the odds that states he won by 1-4 percent in 2008 (Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio) will turn their votes are significantly higher.

But what if the Health Care Freedom Act fails this August?

Just as a win in Missouri would be of huge promise for those who oppose Obamacare, a loss would be potentially devastating for the movement. The liberal blogosphere and activists on the ground would be filled with hope that, perhaps, Obamacare won't prove as potent a political weapon as Republicans hope. It would be one thing if this loss occurred in a blue state. But if an anti-health care reform measure can't even pass in a state that voted for John McCain, where 53 percent disapprove of Obama and 61 percent favor repeal of health care reform, what hope would such measures have elsewhere?

Now that the law is officially enacted and on the books, repealing it is extremely complicated, requiring intense and persistent pressure (it can be done, though, as evidenced by the ultimate repeal of the 1988 Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act). Such a defeat in Missouri, however, could harshly mitigate that pressure. The legal battles are another matter, but if politics is all about momentum, the advantage would certainly rest with Obamacare.

A loss could also deal a devastating blow to the Tea Party. The movement's original fuel, back in the summer of 2009, was town halls full of voters angered over health care reform. While the movement now has become more comprehensive and addresses other issues, anger over the bureaucratic over-reach of health care reform and the backroom brokering to pass it (the Cornhusker Kickback and the Louisiana "Purchase") is still the driving issue for many Tea Partiers.

True to form, the "Show Me" state will soon indicate just how popular (or unpopular) Obama's health care reforms are, and how resilient they can be in the face of political pressure. Perhaps even more fitting, however, is the state's official motto: Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto. "Let the welfare of the people be the Supreme Law." Next month, Missourians will judge whether they want Obamacare to be a part of the law.

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Beck University: First Course Faith 101 Provides Education On Demand

Matt Vasilogambros — 2010-07-08T23:00:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

Glenn Beck has been called many different things, but "academic" has never been high on the list.

That changed last week when the Fox News personality announced his online program called Beck University -- a nine-part series on faith, hope, and charity. For $9.95 a month or $74.95 a year, prospective students can become an "insider extreme" on his website and delve into a "unique academic experience bringing together experts in the fields of religion, American history, and economics," complete with a list of suggested readings after every course.

But before you go chomping at the bit to receive a college-level education for less than $80, Beck University courses are not for credit. Instead, in the spirit of sharing the wealth of knowledge he has accumulated through his self-education, you will be witness to Beck's rectifications of what he sees as misconceptions in American history.

Beck famously took one course at Yale University before dropping out, but he seems to have picked up a few tenets of higher education. For example, Beck U's shield employs the grandeur and symbolism of his could-have-been alma mater and other Ivy League schools. Featuring George Washington, a quill, and a buffalo, it also displays the university's motto -- "Tyrannis Seditio, Obsequium Deo," which is Latin for "Revolution against tyrants, submission to God."

Since I've been lacking formal education in my life this summer, I took the plunge and signed up for Beck University's first class, which debuted Wednesday night. Donning my classroom-appropriate gym shorts and t-shirt, I logged in early and eagerly waited for the session to begin. In the minutes leading up to our professor's arrival, the live feed played new-age Celtic, soft rock, and techno music, which set an odd mood for serious learning. At 8:01 p.m., class began with a short intro from Chancellor Beck, who stated: "You will learn more in this next hour than you ever have in American history."

Presenting the first course, Faith 101, was David Barton, an author, minister, and conservative activist who is most widely known for his outspoken belief that the modern concept of separation of church and state was not shared by the founding fathers. He founded WallBuilders, a Website dedicated to "presenting America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage."

Barton's lecture surrounded the "black-robed regiment," a group of preachers who inspired revolution and fought in its name during the War of Independence. Barton argued that the roles of these forgotten men were pivotal for the cause of liberty and helped set up a framework that had government harnessing religious influence.

Yes, we list John Adams, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison as key players in our nation's founding. But it should be recognized, Barton said, that the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew and the Rev. Samuel Cooper were the inspiration behind the revolution. He said that because of beautifully constructed and delivered sermons on liberty, government, and taxes, "they are responsible for the feelings of 1775."

Barton cited Clinton Rossiter, a professor at Cornell University who claims that four of the six men responsible for America's revolution were preachers. He referred to Duke University's Alice Baldwin, who said that the Declaration of Independence was merely a listing of every sermon before the American Revolution. Barton also noted that it was common for preachers to fight alongside their congregation in the Continental Army or seek elected office.

"If you take the preachers out, we don't have the same effect," Barton said. "We don't hear this part of history any more."

His point is that the founding founders felt that religion was intrinsic in government, and they never intended for it to be completely separated. "We don't want the church running the government, the government running the church," he said. "We do want the influence in there."

Throughout the 36-minute lecture, there were obvious parallels drawn between the history discussed and current events. Barton referred to biblical teachings of when the government should and should not tax its people, while also alluding to the British government unlawfully entering the colonialists' homes and taking their weapons.

About halfway through the presentation, Beck appeared to give the audience a pop quiz consisting of three questions from material already covered in the lecture. The questions popped up on-screen, complete with animations and pictures of what was being described: sound effects of musket fire, people bickering, and music evocative of Revolutionary times. All in all, a few minutes of fun.

After the class concluded, the website started accepting and responding to comments from viewers. This 20-minute session also included two polls -- one concluding that 100 percent of viewers would recommend Beck U to a friend. Viewer comments were enthusiastic of the first course, ranging from "I learned so much," to "Fascinating," to "I'm blown away."

College students, however, have not quite taken to the idea of classes offered by partisan figures like Beck and Barton, no matter their politics.

Tyler Sinclair, a sophomore at Miami University of Ohio and a fan of Beck's Fox News program, said that he trusts Beck to put the material together but doubts its true academic worth.

"I don't doubt his sincerity about all this," Sinclair said. "But I can't imagine this being truly academic in the way I view academia. . . It is definitely going to have the trappings of academia, but you'll have to wait to see if it is actually university-level material."

Another conservative college student, Northern Arizona University senior Brittany Corfman, said that although she respects Beck, the online program does not appeal to her.

"A large part of why I am a conservative is because I hold traditional family values and my religion dear to me," she said. "Not only do I believe that these two parts of life can sufficiently guide my political leanings, but it seems contradictory to try and substitute them with a class offered by a media tycoon, regardless of the content."

For liberals and moderates who are already turned off by Beck's message, they see this new project as an attempt to bend the truth through another medium. Drake University senior Robb Krehbiel said that he would never take a course offered by Beck because of his tendency to "entrench paranoia, hatred, and polarization" in his audience. Krehbiel felt that the "courses just sound like academic fronts that Beck has set up to put some legitimacy to his moral superiority."

The next course is Hope 101, which airs at 8 p.m. on July 14, with David Buckner, a professor at Columbia University. Beck stated that Buckner will look at the truth of American economics and tell us "what is really happening in America, what it all means, and how we can possibly solve it."

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As Congress Investigates For-Profit Colleges, Students Face Risky Choices

Elizabeth Schiffman — 2010-07-06T22:35:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

Are rising college enrollment numbers a bad thing? In October 2008, the share of 18- to 24-year-olds attending college in the United States hit an all-time high. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of the most recent U.S. Census data available, just under 11.5 million students, or 39.6 percent of all young adults ages 18 to 24, were enrolled in a two- or four-year college in October 2008.

Cynical views of these numbers stem from the fact that most of the growth is from for-profit colleges. The increased interest in post-secondary education has increased demand and competition for federal student aid, particularly Title IV aid, at public, private, and for-profit colleges.

Title IV aid is a combination of grants and low-interest loans available in limited quantity to students enrolled at any type of college. Between 2000 and 2009, the amount of Pell grants, Stafford loans, and other Title IV aid packages given to for-profit institutions grew from $4.6 billion to $26.5 billion. Enrollments at for-profit institutions nearly tripled from 673,000 in 2000 to 1.8 million in 2008. As unemployment rates have climbed, so too have these numbers.

Ten percent of the total post-secondary student population is enrolled in for-profit colleges, yet these students receive 23 percent of Title IV federal aid. On June 15, the U.S. Department of Education released a proposed set of rules intended to prevent abuses of federal financial aid programs by establishing new eligibility standards both for students and the colleges they attend.

The Department of Education's proposed rules were conspicuously missing a full set of regulations for evaluating whether a program prepares students for "gainful employment," the category under which most for-profit institutions and non-degree vocational programs qualify for federal aid. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and education department officials said they wanted to delay consideration of this crucial element of the proposal to make sure they "get it right" before the November 1 deadline.

Disappointed by the proposal's indecision, Congress has responded with a more stringent investigation of private sector education. The Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee began a series of oversight hearings last Thursday that will examine the flow of federal education dollars to students through for-profit colleges.

Additionally, committee chairman Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said in a written statement that the hearings will examine whether the knowledge and skills students acquire at a for-profit school sufficiently compensates for the debt accrued by tuition and expenses. They will also coincide with an effort by the House Education and Labor committee to challenge the legitimacy of for-profit institutions by questioning their tendency toward high-limit credit extensions.

The Debt Trap

At the first Senate hearing on June 24, Harkin released his report, "Emerging Risk? An Overview of the Federal Investment in For-Profit Education," which found that most for-profit schools are not only heavily dependent on federal grants and low-interest loans, but that they also have tremendous student turnover and high dropout rates. The result is that a sizable population circulates through these schools each year, accruing significant debt without earning any degrees or certifications that will help them more easily repay it.

Furthermore, many for-profit schools spend the same amount of money, and occasionally more, on recruiting and marketing. One school allocates as little as 32 percent of its total budget to education-related spending.

One of the primary concerns of the hearings are the financial well being of students in the for-profit college system. With a substantial percentage taking out loans to fund their education, these students are eight times more likely than their more traditional counterparts to leave with a loan larger than $20,000. According to a recent analysis by the U.S. Department of Education, for-profit colleges accounted for only 10 percent of enrolled students but 44 percent of defaults.

While the flexibility of the for-profit model works well for some students who can more easily incorporate post-secondary education into their family and job responsibilities, these schools can do an equally great disservice to students who do not graduate or who were misled about the value of the certification they can receive.

Yasmin Issa, who testified at the June 24 committee hearing, is one such victim. She spoke of undue pressure from a for-profit school to enroll quickly, with the promise of multiple, concrete job opportunities and access to a certification exam after 12 months of accelerated classes.

After investing her savings, child support, $15,000 in loans and a year of her time, she found herself trapped in a Catch-22: cyclically limited by her lack of experience and her lack of official certification. Her limitations stemmed from incomplete accreditation within the for-profit school she attended. While the school as a whole was accredited, their ultrasound program was not, and she was thus restricted from access to the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonoraphers certification exam.

"Five months after finishing the program, I had no prospects for employment, but still had a family to take care of, rent, bills, and now the outstanding student loans," Issa said in her testimony. "I felt like I wasted my time and money on a phony school."

The House of Representatives surreptitiously approached this issue during their June 17 hearing examining recent reports from the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education. The reports assessed how higher education accrediting agencies review institutions' policies on credit hours and program length. Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) explained the significance of this seemingly obscure investigation while questioning the witnesses.

"As much as we talk about [credit hour] units changing . . . what has also changed is that institutions now have requirements to shareholders, to profit margins, to the stock market, and to others," Miller said. "This is a matter of serious concern."

The reports compiled by Inspector General Kathleen Tighe found that some accrediting agencies do not have established definitions of what constitutes a credit hour. This can lead to inflated credit hours and misappropriation of student aid. Overestimating student aid allocations can have tremendous costs, most of which are absorbed by students and taxpayers.

Finding a Balance

Amid efforts to root out "bad" for-profit schools, the investigation does highlight several examples where the for-profit model works.

Sharon Thomas Parrott, Senior Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs and Chief Compliance Officer of DeVry Education, a private sector school, spoke to the role for-profit institutions can play in augmenting the country's education goals.

In his efforts to close educational gaps by 2020, President Obama has set his sights on educating an additional 8.2 million post-secondary graduates. Yet many private and public colleges have seen their capacity cut, affording for-profit institutions an opportunity to help, Parrott said. Their independence from taxpayer subsidies and their growing enrollment rate carves out a niche for the for-profit model.

At the same time, rising concern about the $8 billion shortfall entering fiscal year 2011 may put the Pell grant on the chopping block; it's facing a proposed $800 cut to the maximum per student allowance. And with for-profit institutions absorbing much of this funding ($4.3 billion in Pell grants and $19.6 billion in federal loans according to Department of Education data) with more mixed results than traditional colleges, they're at risk of being represented as a threat.

Advocates for private sector education object to this "us versus them" mentality. While Parrott acknowledged that, in this new sector, there is less oversight and thus more opportunities for impropriety, she urged in her testimony that the many effective for-profit schools not be punished for the poor quality at a few, or restricted from experimenting with educational models, one of their most notable differences from non-profit colleges.

"Institutions must remain capable and emboldened to act nimbly and with quality to address society's education needs," Parrott said at the hearing. "This includes allowing for innovation like blended onsite learning and year-round study."

Yet there's some concern that the growth of for-profit colleges may come at the price of hindering community colleges. In a speech to the National Press Club June 30, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) pointed out that many community colleges are being forced to cut classes in spite of a growing demand for education as a result of competition from for-profit schools. And with for-profit tuition averaging five-and-a-half times higher than tuition at more-often-accredited community colleges, many students could be missing out on a much more affordable and reliable alternative.

Confounding Variables

What the comparison of for-profit and traditional private and public schools often fails to acknowledge is the significant role played by demographic differences between student bodies. Some studies suggest that it is not it is not the difference in policy, structure or business models that cleaves the rates of for-profit and non-profit school loan defaults, but rather the wide disparity in student body characteristics.

A recent student aid policy analysis by FinAid.org publisher Mark Kantrowitz found that for-profit colleges tend to enroll a significantly greater percentage of "higher risk" students, which contributes to 60 percent of the difference in default rates between students at for-profit and non-profit schools. The risk factors he identified include delayed and part-time enrollment, working full-time while enrolled and single parent status, among others.

Differences in parent educational status contributed to 18 percent of the difference in loan default rates, with socioeconomic status contributing 14.5 percent to the gap and race prompting an almost 11 percent divergence.

The report also found that almost 80 percent of students at non-profit schools had no risk factors, while for-profit schools had a higher percentage of their student body facing one or more risk factors in every category but delayed enrollment.

Kantrowitz concluded that since non-profit schools have the luxury of selective admissions policies, their preference for no-risk students contributes greatly to their higher success rate and fewer instances of student loan defaults. On the other hand, the need for revenue generally prohibits for-profit schools from turning away students who are already at a high risk for defaulting on any loans before they even apply for admission.

Looking Ahead

The investigation and hearings addressing where for-profit institutions fit into the national post-secondary education landscape call for assessment of these programs now, as well as the construction of regulatory bodies and policies that enable effective for-profit schools to continue.

The trade-offs that plague private sector institutions are significant. One school reported an operating profit of $489 million, a 37 percent profit margin from their $1.3 billion revenues. At the same time, 23 percent of students defaulted on their loans within three years of leaving for-profit schools offering certificates and associate's degrees.

While the future of for-profit education may be unclear as this investigation continues (the next hearing has yet to be scheduled), representatives from all sides agree that more supervision of the business realm of education is likely a necessary step in solving the problems.

"For profit schools are an important part of the mix of post-secondary institutions," Harkin said as he opened the first hearing. "[But] this data begs for oversight of this industry, which will begin . . . today."

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Autonomous China and the Fight Over Heritage

Andrew Clark — 2010-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

Contributor Andrew Clark studied in Shanghai during the spring of 2010. This is the first in a series of stories that touches on his political and cultural awakenings in-and-around China.

When Americans look at the world map, China seems to be a unified block of land. In reality, China is made up of several unique ethnic groups that are having trouble assimilating to unified rule.

During my last week in China, a friend and I took one final trip to one of the most exotic, off-the-map places in China -- Hohhot, in Inner Mongolia. Hohhot is situated in northern China, near the border of Mongolia, and is the ancestral home of the Mongol people (think Genghis Kahn and his nomadic hordes). Signs in the region are in both Chinese and Mongolian, and many of the locals can speak both languages with ease. The terrain of the area is uniquely marked by both endless grasslands, where herds of sheep and cows graze, and sprawling sand dune deserts abound -- reminiscent of the African Sahara.

I took an excursion one morning out to the Xilamuren Grasslands, two hours north of Hohhot, where I was invited to spend a night in a local family's yurt. At one point during our lunch, I asked our tour guide, a local ethnic Mongolian: What exactly is an autonomous region? After all, China is otherwise made up of provinces, what's the difference?

"Because we Mongolians are an ethnic minority, and not Han Chinese (the predominant ethnicity of China), the government gives us special rights and control over our region," she responded. Through her accent, however, I noticed a sense of sarcasm.

"So that's a good thing, right?" I asked.

"No, not really," she replied, then explained why.

Han Chinese make up 92 percent of the People's Republic of China. The remaining 8 percent is made up of minority groups, mainly Tibetan, Zhuang, Uyghur, Mongolian, Miao, Manchu, and Hui (these are the major ethnic groups -- China officially recognizes 55 minority populations). Each of these minority groups are native to land within China's borders (mainly in the West and the North), and three of them (Tibetan, Uyghur, and Mongolian) live in autonomous regions. The ancestral land of these minorities makes up about half of modern-day China, yet their ethnicities make up only a tiny fraction of the modern-day total population.

As one can imagine, this often leads to ethnic tension. The Chinese government acknowledges the awkwardness of the Han ruling a nation in which half the territory does not identify with the majority. So, in an attempt to release some of that tension, they've given these ethnicities autonomous rule. As our Mongolian guide explained to me, though, this is only satisfying on the surface.

In reality, while autonomous rule allows for the local minority to choose their own regional governor, and have more legislative rights, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) still appoints its own regional Party Secretary -- in China, the communist positions are where the real power is located. The current Party Chief of Inner Mongolia is Hu Chunhua, and while he is seen as a star among a new generation of rising Chinese leaders, he is still ethnic Han Chinese.

Further, the CCP still controls the public education system, which is often the front-lines in battles for control of the future. Class in Inner Mongolia, regardless of location, is taught in Chinese, and there is little encouragement of young students to study or learn their family's traditional language. Indeed, in the Mongol yurt I visited, which consisted of a mother, father, and a teenage daughter, the daughter was unable to speak a word of Mongolian (her parents spoke it fluently), so the family conversed in Chinese. My tour guide told me that, among the Mongolians, there is a real sense that the Han Chinese are trying to, quietly, stamp out Mongolian culture. (After an unusual arrest last year, the leader of the Inner Mongolian People's Party, Xi Haiming, claimed that, "the Chinese Communist Party wants to divide and rule . . . their purpose is hidden but its the eradication of Tibetan and Mongolian culture.")

This, of course, may be somewhat exaggerated, but nonetheless, the tension is there. The sentiment is not restricted to just Inner Mongolia, and it is not all peaceful. You may remember the high-profile conflict in Tibet in the months leading to the 2008 Olympic Games, as angry Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans rose up against the ruling CCP. Similar unrest happened last summer in Xinjiang province among the Uyghurs, where 156 were killed, 800 injured, and more than 1,000 detained. In 2004, unrest broke out among the Hui in Henan province. That incident was particularly startling, as what triggered the outbreak was a quarrel between a Hui tax driver who (allegedly) ran over a Han girl.

China is one of the oldest and richest cradles of civilization in the world, and much like the Middle East, multiple ethnic groups call upon ancient traditions to claim land, autonomy, and sovereignty -- or at least more acceptance and representation by a majority that seems to be uninterested in all of the above.

However, the Han likewise seem to have no desire to give up these lands. Chinese history is pockmarked with invasions and internal rebellion, breaking up unified Chinese empires. The Han Dynasty unified China in 206 BC and ruled over a golden age, only to have the Three Kingdoms Era lead to bloody civil war and economic disaster; subsequent Mongol invasions, and then Western intervention, has led the Chinese to believe that a unified China is in the best interest of everyone, and division can only lead to crippling.

It remains to be seen whether the Chinese government can successfully assimilate these groups, or if consistent suppression of uprisings can force social tranquility. While on the margins, some scholars even believe that China will fall apart (one Chinese expert, Gordon Chang, labeled China's current minority-policy "unsustainable"). Nevertheless, while the United States has seemingly countless ethnic and cultural minorities that are proud to call themselves American, the same cannot be said for China. "I am not Chinese," our tour guide, a Chinese-citizen, told me. "I am Mongolian." If China hopes to continue to rise as a growing world power, and keep its government stable, these attitudes will surely need to be addressed. Otherwise, the government may have a hard time moving forward when so much of their resources are spent on suppressing ethnic dissent.

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Look Away, U.S. World Cup Fans: 25 Photos of Excitement in Ghana

Andrea Patino — 2010-06-28T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

In the Ghanaian capital of Accra, not far from where I have been studying abroad this semester, locals and obrunis ("foreigners" in Twi, one of the local languages) alike gathered in a popular neighborhood called Osu to watch Saturday's World Cup match between the United States and Ghana. The excitement (dancing, singing, rejoicing) before kickoff made it seem like the national team had already achieved victory. The spirited atmosphere during play made the match difficult to follow.

In a taxi I took the day before the game, the driver told me, "Tomorrow Americans deserve at least one goal, because we like Obama." Soon after the match ended a group of happy Ghanaians shouted "Obama" in the streets while showing passing cars a sign that said, "Obama, We Are Sorry!"

When the Ghana victory was official, people started to hug each other, throw beer around and dance together to the sound of local music. Now Ghanaians anxiously await their next game. Ghana is Africa's only remaining team in the World Cup, and the Black Stars -- as the team is known -- are a source of hope and excitement for an entire continent.

Scroll down for a selection of photos taken by Andrea Patiño in Accra during the events of the U.S.-Ghana match.

	Fans watching the game at Epo's Bar, in Osu, one of the most popular hangouts in Accra.
	Locals and foreigners gathered in front of two large screens to watch the game.
	Fans found many ways to wear their team's colors.
	Ghana fans hope for a victory during the game's extra time.
	Workers at a small restaurant cheer for Ghana.
	Excitement after Ghana's victory.
	Epo's Bar erupts after the final whistle.
	Celebration was immediate and lasting.
	Celebrating Ghana's victory.
	Our award winning match outfit.
	Fans blew whistles after the match, raising spirits and evoking the final one of the match.
	Yes, vuvuzelas were here, too.
	American fans found reason to be happy for Ghana's win.
	A beer shower to celebrate victory.
	Obrunis and Ghanaians hanging out after the game.
	A BBC World Service journalist interviewing an American and a Ghanaian after the game.
	One of the more festooned locals.
	Celebrating Ghana's victory in style.
	The wigged and flagged one leads a victory chant.
	An "Obama We Are Sorry" sign during celebrations.
	A fan yells, "This time for Africa!"
	One of many unique painted faces.
	Celebrating the win in the streets.
	The post-victory smiles did not subside for hours.
	Fans now await the match against Uruguay on Friday.

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To Hyderabad and Back: A Student Journalist's Hard Lessons in India

Riane Menardi — 2010-06-25T11:15:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

Six months ago I had no idea how to hail a rickshaw, when to eat curry with my hands, or that a 2-rupee coin is engraved with a peace sign. I didn't know that every Indian state speaks its own language, and I certainly didn't know anything about Indian politics, education, or culture.

I went to India for a four-month study abroad program in Hyderabad (a city of 6 million in the heart of South India) to study sociology and culture, both in and out of the classroom. As a journalism major, I also wanted to improve my writing and reporting skills, but I had no idea that I would have a chance to cover the complex Telangana controversy threatening to split Hyderabad's state of Andhra Pradesh in two (separatists claim that Telangana has been exploited in terms of natural resources, funding and representation in government since Andhra and Telangana merged to form Andhra Pradesh in 1956).

My first interview in India was with local political activists -- part of a group that became violent in December and January. I spoke with 25 men fighting for an independent Telangana state. They ushered me into their tent and patiently told me about the history of Telangana, the problems it's facing, and their protest strategy, but I was still lost. I had done my research beforehand, but I couldn't wrap my mind around the caste oppression, the process of becoming a new state, and the politics behind it all. To understand Telangana, it seemed I needed to understand the entire culture and history of India-British rule, independence, caste, class, economics, family life, and politics. More than a few times, I sat on my bed, pulling my hair out, trying to find the truth and understand a different way of life.

India is the world's largest democracy, and it's only 60 years old. There are numerous political parties, three major religions, two national languages and over a billion people. Each state has a different language and government system. Poverty is rampant. Drug use and unemployment are major issues. Sexism, racism, caste-ism, and religious discrimination have caused deep rifts in society and inhibited national unity. There are official "backwards" tribes and "scheduled" castes -- people who are so poor, in areas that are so underdeveloped, that they need government funds and affirmative action for jobs and education. India is growing, but it's struggling to reconcile thousands of years of tradition with the global pressure to modernize.

Telangana's plight is decades old, so everyone but the protesters thinks it will drag on for years before any change happens, despite the dramatic agitation that flared up six months ago. The last chief minister of Andhra Pradesh kept the protest movement under control, but he died last September. The transition to a new minister opened the door for unrest to spark again. People said that politicians paid students to keep demonstrating, and every time a student committed suicide, their family could receive money from political groups supporting the movement (and seeking opportunities for increased power that separation might provide).

Ninety-eight percent of Indian civilians think that politics is affected by corruption, according to a 2005 Transparency International study. Sixty-two percent have had to pay a bribe or "use a contact" to get a job done in a public office. I quickly learned to be skeptical of the media, government, and other authority figures.

It also became unnervingly clear that the media does not serve as the watchdog of the government as in America. Accuracy and ethics are not held to the same standard in Indian media, at least among the English-language papers. Newspapers print contradictory information, and some reporters are paid to write favorable stories for the highest bidder. In New Delhi's inner government sanctums, the "cash for questions" method of reporting is not uncommon. And just two years ago, a reporter lost his TV news job and was arrested after reporting that a teacher named Uma Khurana had been accused of selling her students into prostitution, when the whole thing was a hoax created in concert with a businessman who claimed Khurana owed him money. Another reporter posed as a schoolgirl and victim of the prostitution ring.

As a foreigner, I never knew which papers to believe or which people or organizations were most or least corrupt. These were things most Indians seemed to know, but never wanted talk about, either out of fear or apathy. I once asked my resident director which paper was the most trustworthy. He pointed to one of three on his desk and said, "This one is usually pretty good."

Many news websites steal content from each other. They report different figures and misspell names and places. Often I found conflicting information in reports by prominent Indian papers. The omnicient "admin" author writes most stories, instead of a writer with a real byline. And blogs and personal websites often seem more professional and credible than newspapers.

Organization and government websites can be unreliable anywhere, but India's are even worse than usual -- they occasionally look like the work of a child with finger paint and a computer. "Contact Us" pages are hard to come by, and more often than not, I heard "the number you have dialed is not valid," when trying to reach a source.

In my time researching the Telangana movement, I only read one investigative report that challenged the movement's legitimacy. Most news articles simply reported riots, protests, and speeches as they happened, often with obvious embellishments. It saddened me to see politicians and the media orchestrate events and play the movement for maximum attention, though such practices are standard in other parts of the world. But I was impressed by the protesters' resolve to change things. I admit that their concerns are often more extreme, but I saw more unity and determination from the Indian youth in less than five months than I have ever seen from American youth.

People ask me all the time how I liked India. I tell them I loved traveling by rickshaw, and I was slowly learning to eat with my hands, but I never mention my frustration with the "don't-question-The-Man" mentality and the lax attitude toward lies and corruption. I found myself homesick for American media and the freedom to speak one's mind. The most challenging -- and humbling -- lesson I learned during my 180-degree jaunt is how lucky we are in my home country.

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'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy: Conflicted Gay Soldiers Also Face ROTC Debt

Peter W. Fulham — 2010-06-17T12:30:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

Dan Choi entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1999, well aware that as a gay cadet serving under the "don't ask, don't tell" law, which bars gays from serving openly in the military, his enrollment carried certain risks. Still, he said, he was undeterred by the policy.

But after a one-year tour of duty in Iraq in 2006, his attitude changed. First Lieutenant Choi (pictured below) started a relationship with his boyfriend and discovered that he wanted to share his personal life with his friends and family.

"I realized that these are the things that my soldiers talk about," Choi said. "They know that they have somebody who can support them, who is cheering them on. They'll come home to them, and they'll have that stability. That's why families are so important. I finally understood that for myself."

Having to conceal his relationship, Choi explained, contradicted his values, as well as the military values of integrity and honesty. He created a fake female name for his boyfriend in order to talk with other soldiers about his relationship, and he began to struggle to make up excuses about why the people he worked with couldn't meet his significant other. The delicate balancing act proved too much for Choi.

"It was really when I had to force my boyfriend into the closet -- that was when it got to be too much," Choi said. "That's when I saw it as lying and as absolutely immoral.

"I promised to live under an honor code at West Point that says, 'You will not lie, and you will not tolerate lying,' " Choi said. "It's simple. It doesn't say, 'Straight people cannot lie, but gay people are allowed to lie about their loved ones, so we'll make exceptions for gay people.' I found that to be antithetical to the values that our military was founded on."

Last March, Choi made a career-changing decision. He appeared on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, where he announced unequivocally that he is gay and discussed his support for Knights Out, a group of West Point alumni that advocates for gay rights. A few weeks after his television appearance, Choi received a letter detailing the Army's intent to discharge him from service. Since coming out publicly, Choi has worked extensively as an activist against the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Choi is one of nearly 14,000 gay service members who have faced discharge since Congress passed "don't ask, don't tell" in 1993. For many gay soldiers, the law has had searing personal -- and financial -- consequences. Soldiers interviewed for this article discussed the daily stress that the policy created, recalling fears that their jobs could be terminated at any moment. In addition, current and former students discharged from ROTC programs discussed the burden of having to repay educational costs that had been shouldered previously by the military.

"It was incredibly stressful, almost to the point of being physically ill for that year," said Mara Boyd, who was discharged from the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2003 after coming out to her commanding officer. "I think it's hard enough to come out and deal with all the things that our society today requires gay people to go through."

"Don't ask, don't tell," she explained, did not make the process any easier.

In addition to her discharge, Boyd was notified that she would have to repay approximately $32,000 to cover the educational costs that had been picked up by the Air Force. She continues to refuse to pay the debt, citing the discriminatory nature of the military's policy on gays.

Sara Isaacson, who will be a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall, was discharged from the university's ROTC program after coming out to her commander in January. Like Choi and Boyd, Isaacson explained that she came out to preserve her integrity.

"It forces you to tell lies," Isaacson said of the military's policy on gays. "Integrity is one of the Army's seven core values. And those are the things that we as cadets, future officers, and members of the Army are supposed to live by, one hundred percent of the time. These are twenty-four, seven values. You don't only follow them when you put the uniform on."

Isaacson also faces steep debt as a result of coming out. Her commander has recommended to a panel of Army generals that she repay approximately $80,000 in educational costs to the military.

According to Aaron Tax, the legal director at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which offers free legal advice to gay soldiers, students like Isaacson have few paths of recourse when it comes to "don't ask, don't tell" debt. As Tax explained, students who are "outed" -- revealed as gay by someone else -- do not generally have to pay back educational debts. But students who come out voluntarily usually must repay their ROTC scholarships.

Soldiers also run the risk of losing military pensions and other retirement benefits as a result of the law, Tax explained. Under "don't ask, don't tell," a dismissed soldier is usually subject to one of three discharge categories, which is determined primarily by the soldier's record of service: "honorable," "general" and "other than honorable." If a soldier is discharged before serving for at least 20 years, he or she will usually lose a military pension. The military does not keep a public record of the different levels of discharges that have been issued under the law.

Last month, the House approved a proposal to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," although the bill still must pass the Senate. The bill includes no provisions for students who have incurred debts as a result of the current policy. If the bill wins approval in the Senate, a repeal would not go into effect until after December, when the Pentagon will publish the results of a survey that examines how to implement a change in the law. In addition, the policy change would need to receive the approval of President Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The strain that "don't ask, don't tell" has placed on gay service members has fostered a growing sentiment among discharged soldiers that the president and Congress are not moving swiftly enough to repeal the law. For Boyd, the drawn out debate on the issue has been frustrating.

"As of right now, I feel like what's in front of us is another compromise under a different name," Boyd said. "If anyone really looks at the amendment that was voted on, what exactly is changing? Because gay and lesbian soldiers are being discharged today under 'don't ask, don't tell.' So what exactly has changed? And even if the Senate passes it in the next couple weeks, then what? Gay and lesbian soldiers are still going to be discharged until December. . . . And then it goes to the Pentagon. And Mullen, Obama, and Gates must all approve it. That's a lot of 'ifs.' And there's no timeline. It's politicians passing the buck to other politicians."

Over the past few months, the president has addressed critics who fault him for failing to move quickly enough on gay rights with calls for patience. In May, a protester heckled Obama during a speech at a San Fransisco fundraiser, urging the president to "move faster" on a repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

"He said, 'do it faster,'" the president responded, straying from his prepared remarks. "It's like, come on, man. I'm dealing with Congress here. It takes a little bit of time."

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Interns in Washington: Finding News Ways to Wow the Hill

Matt Vasilogambros — 2010-06-14T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

It's the time of year when 20,000 bright-eyed, ambitious college students pour into Washington, D.C. to start their jobs as summer interns. These kids have finally made it to the big show, working in the nation's capitol. Eagerness and egos in hand, they soon find out that the qualities that got them there can just as soon lead to their demise.

Interns in Washington have become a spectacle, a means of entertainment to fill up conversations at the water cooler. Classic mistakes and faux pas have become legend for locals. So, interns, watch out when summer comes around. You're being observed closely. There is no learning curve. Proper behavior is expected. Interns (of which I happen to be one) have to know proper intern etiquette if they're going to make it through the summer unscathed.

Take identification cards, for example. For most, getting a brand new I.D. badge is a great experience -- access to important places accompanied by a new sense of power and responsibly. However, for some Capitol Hill interns, the red I.D. badge is a dreaded accessory in the halls of power. Staffers closely watch interns wearing the "red badge of courage" around town or flashing it at security to get into private, non-Capitol related events. If they're not careful, they could end up on some blog.

These days, in D.C., it's not just any blog. It's the DC [Summer] Interns blog, a favorite amongst Washington staffers and interns alike. Allowing people to anonymously submit stories of poor intern behavior, the blog has become so popular that it is a guaranteed bookmark in any Hill office. In fact, the blog is often recommended to new interns as a guide for what not to do.

"This year, however, you often hear interns make remarks such as, 'I hope I don't end up on the blog' or, 'Please don't send that to the blog,' and we have begun to realize that perhaps this really is changing the behavior of interns in D.C.," a representative of the website, who did not want to be identified, said. "And we hope that it continues to improve, despite the fact that it would lead to the demise of the blog."

Senate intern Margaret Schmidt agrees, saying that every intern in her office knows about the blog, some even reading up on posts before they got into town.

"Some of the advice and the stories are helpful because you can learn from truly dumb mistakes," she said. "I think it can also be a little overblown, because I can't imagine that all the authors of these posts are the humblest -- it's the Hill."

The representative said that 75 percent of the entries come from Hill staffers and the rest come from other government agencies or local residents. They even claim that staffers have sent their praise to the website for helping improve intern conduct.

"It is interesting the number of e-mails we receive from chiefs of staff on the Hill and individuals who work in foreign governments, thanking us for our blog and how it is improving the manner in which interns carry themselves in the workplace," the representative said.

Ironically enough, none of the site organizers work on the Hill. Starting as a forum between college friends to air complaints, it turned into a more ubiquitous site in the D.C. area.

But the DC [Summer] Interns blog is not the only site dedicated to the time-honored tradition of calling out rogue interns. There's also Washington Post reporter Jenna Johnson's Campus Overload column. Covering an array of college-related news, her most popular articles fall under her "that intern" feature. From the "party intern" to the "I'm-from-NYC-and-hate-D.C. intern," she continues to define the many faces of these students.

Others, such as On Tap or Roll Call, have also added their two cents on what to do and not do, including must-sees like Ben's Chili Bowl or the Politics and Prose bookstore in the D.C. metro area.

Some ask why D.C. interns receive so much attention. No one can be that bad, right? Locals would wholeheartedly disagree. Dan Hess, a Georgetown graduate student, said that it is great that so many people view Washington as a place of opportunity. The problem lies in those who don't know how to act properly when they get there.

"I also think the D.C. summer interns bring with them an invigorating, bright-eyed view of the world with them that those of us who live and work here year-round often forget because we get cynical, we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the day-to-day work," he said. "With that said, their naivety, both of what the city has to offer as well as how people are expected to act in a very political and professional city, is blatantly obvious and quite often very annoying to those of us who are here long-term."

From the "skintern" (a female intern that doesn't know the difference between a club dress and a work dress) to the overly privileged intern (one who got there because of their parents' extraordinary wealth and connections), the behavior justifies the expansion of reporters' beats to cover the summer influx.

Some interns, however, do think there's too much hype on intern stories. House intern Brenna Fujimoto said that interns are easy targets since there are so many of them during the summer. It's easy then, she says, for the DC [Summer] Interns blog to become such a must-see.

"I think as long as no one takes what they say seriously, it's all in good fun," she said. "We are all doing this together, which makes it even better because we all know we are going to make some of those same mistakes at some point."

Tax Court clerk Chris Davis said that he doesn't have time to read all the blogs and articles surrounding D.C. interns. To him, there are more important things to fret about.

"Interns only deserve the hype when they're sexually involved with their congressman," Davis said.

So, if you are an intern in D.C., you have already heard it all -- don't be "that intern." Don't think that you are all that and tell your mom you're doing more than you actually are, or walk into a random chief of staff's office and give them your card. If you don't listen and fall into that trap, your story could be the next big conversation starter at work the next day.

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When 'Everybody Draws Muhammad,' Balancing Free Speech and Religious Respect

Elizabeth Schiffman — 2010-06-10T11:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Religion, The Cram

On May 9th, a student group called Secular Humanists for Inquiry and Free Thought (SHIFT) chalked stick figure drawings of the Prophet Muhammad across Northwestern University's campus. In a statement issued later that day on their blog, they explained that their intention was to spark a dialogue about political correctness and free speech. They also aimed to undermine the power of Islamic groups who claim that depictions of Muhammad violate a tenet of Islam and mock a founding principle of their faith.

A series of 12 political cartoons, first published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, caused a global outcry when publications throughout Europe and the Middle East began reprinting the depictions of the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. Two Chicago-based extremists were detained at O'Hare Airport after threatening to kill the cartoonist and his editor. Other threats of violence made by Islamic fundamentalists to those depicting Muhammad have been met with censorship and fear.

SHIFT's drawings received public disapproval from the dean of students, the vice president of student affairs and the university chaplain, who released a statement condemning the protest as uncivil and disrespectful of others' beliefs. The drawings' impact was amplified by the coincidence that students from Northwestern's satellite program in Doha, Qatar (NU-Q) were visiting campus that day.

NU SHIFT was inspired to chalk images of the prophet by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Atheists, Agnostics and Freethinkers (AAF) and Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics (AHA) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, two university groups with which NU SHIFT has formed a coalition called the Secular Student Alliance. The drawings were considered similarly polarizing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where the Muslim Students Association altered AHA's depictions with boxing gloves, re-labeling the drawings "Muhammad Ali."

SHIFT's actions also aligned with "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" on May 20, which came about after the airing of an episode on the Comedy Central show South Park. On April 14, the show celebrated its 200th episode with a particularly incendiary focus-satirizing 200 celebrities and public figures, including Muhammad. Following the episode's airing, the website RevolutionMuslim.com threatened Stone and Parker with an image of Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker who was shot and stabbed to death by an extremist after depicting Muhammad on his show, and posted the address of Comedy Central's New York Office and Stone and Parker's California production office. When the show was set to air again on April 21, the network actively censored the episode's content, bleeping dialogue and blacking out the images of the prophet. The network had previously censored a South Park show responding to the 2005 Danish cartoon controversy.

SHIFT president Cassy Byrne said that the many instances of censorship following attempts to depict Muhammad caused the act of drawing the prophet to take on a symbolic significance in the name of free speech.

"[The purpose of drawing Muhammad] is to raise awareness about this potential threat to your free speech," Byrne said. "Also, to sort of contest the societal norm, the taboo that we shouldn't do something because we've been told we shouldn't or else."

Byrne also said that the loudest opposition to SHIFT's protest was from non-Muslims offended on behalf of Northwestern's Muslim community and the NU-Q students.

Susan Xu, a Northwestern junior who identifies as an atheist, was one such student. In a letter to the editor of an on-campus magazine, she expressed her concerns about the disrespectful nature of the drawings.

"I've had Muslim friends explain to me that an image of Muhammad is sacred and that any representation of him was sacrilegious as both God and the prophet were too sacred for human representation," Xu said. "So I try to imagine how it would feel if someone took our holiest image and made it into a figure of fun, and had us watch as people trampled on it."

But Byrne says the Muslim-cultural Students Association and the NU-Q students were tolerant of the protest and supportive of the group's goal to spark a dialogue.

"They reached out to us immediately and said 'let's have a talk about this, because a lot of the NU-Q students are really interested in talking to you about why you did this,'" Byrne said. Yet few Northwestern students attended the open forum discussion that was advertised alongside the chalk drawings.

The confusion surrounding the intentions of "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" turned many of the event's initial proponents against the protest. Molly Norris, the cartoonist whose satirical poster inspired the event, said she did not support the fight her drawing inspired. And John Wellington, creator of the Facebook group that hosted the event, also pulled his support, shocked by the outcry the page inspired and by the offensive nature of much of the user-submitted images and content.

But for participants in the SHIFT event at Northwestern, the response to the drawings, including varied interpretations of the movement and strong opposition, furthered their goal of undermining efforts to repress this form of speech.

"We wanted to raise awareness about the fact that government censorship isn't the only type of censorship and that this [censorship motivated by fear] can get out of control too," SHIFT publicity chair Angela Potter said. "This engaged students who would never have been involved in the issue otherwise, which is what we wanted to accomplish."

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Cape Cod Wind Farm Controversy Still Roiling Nantucket Sound

Peter W. Fulham — 2010-06-04T23:00:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts -- When Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced in April that the federal government had approved the Cape Wind proposal, a controversial plan to build a 24-square-mile wind farm in the waters off Cape Cod, a long and heated chapter in New England politics appeared to reach a resolution. But the final decision has done little to stop an ongoing debate among residents of Cape Cod and the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard over the merits of the proposal -- and how much, if at all, Cape Wind would alter the economy and wildlife of the region.

The decision allows Cape Wind, a private developer, to build 130 wind turbines, each with a height of 440 feet, in the middle of Nantucket Sound -- 4.8 miles from Mashpee, on the south coast of Cape Cod. The project still must clear several regulatory hurdles, but construction could begin as early as the end of this year.

Supporters and opponents of the project have each taken up the mantle of conservationism. Those in favor of the proposal say it marks an essential step in the search for alternative energy. But Cape Wind's detractors, many of whom vow to fight the project despite its federal approval, argue that the project would upset the fragile ecology of the sound, which they claim is an irreplaceable and pristine natural resource. The debate, which has played out in one of the wealthiest summer resort areas in the country, has also been marked by the issues of class, money and political power.

Mark Rodgers, the communications director for Cape Wind, explained that his company's project is an environmental necessity, especially in light of the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "I think a lot of people learned about Cape Wind's approval in the context of this oil spill," he said. "And I think people make a connection and realize that we have choices about how we get our energy."

The approval of Cape Wind, Rodgers explained, was a hopeful sign for the future of renewable energy in the United States. "It's an important signal in the industry," he said, "and it's a sign of the direction that a whole new sector is taking in this country."

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, which was formed almost immediately after Cape Wind was announced in 2001, has fought the project relentlessly and with an unprecedented amount of money -- more than $20 million in private donations, according to the Vineyard Gazette. The group has received backing from several high-profile residents of the Cape and islands, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and the late Walter Cronkite. Audra Parker, the president and chief executive of the group, explained that her organization would continue to pursue lawsuits against the project, citing violations of the Endangered Species Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Finding alternative energy sources is an important goal, she explained, but she maintained that Nantucket Sound is the wrong place to build a wind farm.

"There are locations that should be developed and there are locations that should not, and this is clearly one that should not," she said. "Basically, this decision, at this point, has been based on politics. And we want to see it based on facts and moved out of the political arena. Secretary Salazar violated his own commitment to tribal rights, to historic preservation, and went against the Federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's recommendation to deny it."

Parker's mention of tribal rights was a reference to the objections of the Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag tribes, of Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, which claim that building a wind farm on Nantucket Sound would interfere with many of their spiritual rituals and disturb their ancestral burial grounds.

So far, public opinion has generally favored Cape Wind, with 86 percent of Massachusetts residents and 74 percent of Cape and islands residents supporting the project, according to a 2008 poll conducted by the Opinion Research Corp. But in some groups, the sentiment appeared to be more one-sided, especially among charter and commercial fishermen here, who rely on Nantucket Sound as a source of revenue.

"People who are mostly involved in fishing, generally speaking, are not for Cape Wind, although that's not to say that they're not for wind turbine power or alternative sources of power," said Mary Boyd, who owns a charter fishing company in Martha's Vineyard with her husband. "I think that your fishermen are some of your staunchest naturalists, because they understand it, and they live it every day. They know what they need. They're not the ones who are out there saying, 'Let's go mess up our natural resources.' At the same time, they're also looking at this and saying, 'We know the importance of the sound as it pertains to our fishing industry.' "

Some local fishing groups, along with Parker's organization, are concerned that the construction of the turbines could disturb the delicate marine ecosystem that serves as a habitat for bluefish, tuna, and striped bass, among other species popular among recreational fisherman. Commercial fishermen, in particular, are worried that the construction along the ocean floor could pose a threat to the species that feed along the seabed, such as cod, haddock and flounder. Concern for the revenue of local fishermen has been a central rallying cry of opposition groups, many of which point to a study released by the Massachusetts Fisherman's Partnership, which estimates that Cape Wind's cost to commercial fishing in the region could reach anywhere from $8 million to $13 million over the next 25 years.

Opponents also point out that the project could disrupt shipping lanes and pose a hazard for recreational boaters, who use the sound extensively during the summer months. In addition, opposition groups have raised concerns over potential aviation hazards the project could present, although the Federal Aviation Administration ruled last month that the turbines would pose no threat to planes.

Many residents, especially homeowners, maintain that although they understand the merits of wind power, they cannot get past their uneasiness with the project. A few homeowners are demanding additional testing to ensure that the environmental impact would be minimal, while others simply don't like the way the turbines are going to look.

Carole Horgan, who lives year-round in Osterville, on Cape Cod, cited the project's visual drawbacks. "I think the aesthetic argument is one they've overdone," she said, "but at the same time . . . it isn't pretty. I can see Martha's Vineyard from my deck here. And so the idea that we're not going to be able to see it is ridiculous."

For supporters of Cape Wind, like Barbara Hill, executive director of the environmental non-profit group Clean Power Now, the most important part of the project is its long-term precedent.

"Look, you don't want that thing out there?" Hill said. "You have a right to that opinion. You absolutely do. But base your opinion on the truth. Don't base your opinion on the fear-mongering and the PR stuff that doesn't hold water. Every single thing that the Alliance has thrown up against the wall has not stuck. The only thing it comes down to is visual, and our motto is, 'It's the vision, not the view.' "

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With Holy Cross Commencement Speech, Mark Shriver Continues Family Tradition

Peter W. Fulham — 2010-05-31T20:45:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

WORCESTER, MASS. - Mark Shriver delivered the commencement address at the College of the Holy Cross on Friday, returning to his alma mater with a message of humility and service for the graduating seniors. Shriver is the vice president and managing director of U.S. programs for Save the Children, a nonprofit group that provides health care, educational support, and disaster relief for at-risk children. He is also the son of Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps, and the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of President John F. Kennedy.

Shriver made several references to his family's legacy of public service, but he spent the largest part of his speech praising the accomplishments of Holy Cross alumni who have spent their careers serving the disadvantaged. His speech, which drew heavily upon his experience as a Holy Cross student, was also a call for graduates to address social injustice.

"Over and over again, you will be face-to-face with circumstances in which the good life is not being lived, in which freedom and opportunity for others is being denied or compromised," Shriver said. "Individualism and consumerism will invite you to look their way, to focus exclusively on your needs and desires. Will you accept that invitation? Or will you accept Christ's invitation to right the wrongs around you and to heal the wounds you see?"

Shriver is not the first member of his family to give the commencement address at Holy Cross. His mother, who started the Special Olympics, spoke to graduates in 1979, and his sister, California First Lady Maria Shriver, gave the speech in 1998. His uncle, the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, also accepted the invitation to speak in 1977. Shriver made clear early on in his address that he was well aware of his family's legacy at the college, joking that he might have been the last member of his family that the school's president, Father Michael McFarland, called to give the speech.

"I called my sister, Maria, and said, 'I have been asked to give the graduation speech at Holy Cross. Timmy and Bobby claim they were asked. Do you think they are telling the truth?'" Shriver said. "There was a pause. Maria whispered, 'There is a message here for Arnold to call Father McFarland.'"

"Arnold," as most of the graduates were aware, is California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Shriver's brother-in-law.

For Shriver, going back to give the commencement speech was a memorable moment, but, as he explained, it was also surreal. "I love Holy Cross. My best friends are from Holy Cross," Shriver said in an interview after the graduation ceremony. "It was definitely a huge honor, and it also makes you pause, because I still feel young, and to be asked to give the graduation speech where you went to school definitely threw me for a loop at the outset."

But his prevailing sentiment was of gratitude, for his friends and for his school. "Holy Cross definitely reinforced not only my commitment to others -- I got that from my mom and dad -- but it gave me a great foundation of support from friends. It gave me a great foundation of faith, and it definitely taught me how to think and to question."

During his senior year, Shriver lived in a house off campus with nine other roommates, almost all of whom were present to watch him give the speech. Many of them were openly moved by the experience of going back to see their friend give the commencement address at their college.

"It was special. It was a family affair," said Sean Duffy, one of Shriver's roommates at Holy Cross. "He spoke for us, and he spoke well for us. It's a treat because he speaks in the same manner as his dad. He's careful. He's humble. He talks about all the people who could do it better than he could."

The speech also received a warm reception from the graduating seniors, who greeted Shriver with loud applause before he reached the podium.

"I thought it was very inspiring," said Ritie Muse, who graduated on Friday. "I loved that he kind of joked in the beginning. He wasn't shy about talking about his family and being proud of his family. But at the same time, he was very proud of being a Holy Cross graduate, which is very nice, because he put us on the same level."

As Shriver explained after the speech, college life remains fresh in his mind, especially his memories living off campus during senior year.

"I remember we had a professor who would come down to the house and teach the class in our house. It was ten or twelve of us in the class, and the professor taught it right there. You know, the intimacy with the professors, knowing the professors, having a personal relationship with them, and literally having a course being taught at the house was a unique experience," Shriver said. "It was a magical four years."

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As Iran Election Anniversary Approaches, Green Movement Keeps Hope Alive

Elizabeth Weingarten — 2010-05-27T13:17:00+00:00

Filed under: Iran, The Cram, Middle East

The Green movement is simmering in Iran. On June 12, the one year anniversary of last year's disputed presidential elections, people around the world will look East, watching expectantly to see if it bubbles over.

In recent weeks, the movement has been quieted but not silenced. The recent hangings of five Kurdish "terrorists," sentencing of Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari and incarceration of countless other journalists, dissidents and human rights activists have, of course, intimidated the public. Most are afraid to protest in the streets. They know the Revolutionary Guard could arrest, torture and even kill them. And although the government stymied contact between members of the movement through Internet censorship, dissidents are still considering new communication portals. With aid from the United States and other governments, they could learn to skirt the regime's Internet stronghold. The movement isn't over, like Stephen Kinzer reported in the Global Post.

That's because this isn't a "bumper sticker" revolution, according to Gary Sick, a senior research scholar at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Middle East Institute. "We seem to believe that if the demonstrations are big, the regime will fall in a day, and if there are no demonstrations, the whole movement has disappeared," said Sick. "Neither of those are true. It's not that simple." The Green movement hasn't vanished; rather, it's adjusting to the escalation of intimidation tactics and communication surveillance.

"From the activists I've spoken to, I think there's this understanding that they are in this for the long haul, " said Matthew Duss, a national security researcher and blogger at the Center for American Progress. "June 12 was a major moment, and then the regime found its legs and found ways to frustrate those demonstrations. [The activists] understand that it's a challenge, but there's guarded optimism. There is still momentum."

A Year of Protest and Suppression

The days following last year's disputed presidential election on June 12 reminded the world of the country's 1979 revolt. Enraged citizens flooded the streets, fearless and confident of their power.

Mehdi Khalaji's father was one of those angry citizens. An original Iranian revolutionary in 1979, Mohammad Taghi Khaliji once criticized the Shah in public speeches and was arrested three times.

Last June, he was again inspired to fight injustice in Iran. "He did not revolt against the shah in order to establish a regime that beat up peaceful demonstrators and shot innocent people," wrote Mehdi Khaliji, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, in an article in Foreign Policy. According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Basiji militias and the Revolutionary Guards used batons, tear gas, pepper spray, water cannon, chains, live ammunition and plastic bullets to attack the protesters. Amnesty International reported 115 executions of convicted prisoners in the 50 days after the June elections.

Khaliji's father began to deliver political speeches condemning the human rights abuses of the regime. He was subsequently arrested, and locked away in Evin prison. Released on bail only recently, Mehdi says his father still doesn't know the charges. "This is a revolution that eats its own children," Khaliji wrote. "It places its survival at risk."

Staying Strong for the Battle Ahead

The regime's violent attempts to discourage activism and peaceful protests have alienated people like Khaliji's father: Iranians who were once staunch supporters of the Islamic Republic. Now, most are united on one front: human rights and democracy.

"The democracy movement in Iran is broad-based and strong," said Akbar Ganji, a Iranian dissident journalist who spoke with Duss at the Cato Institute recently. "But what we lack right now is the ability -- the tools to get our message out to the Iranian people."

Social networking and Internet communication largely contributed to the movement's success last year. Iranians are more active online than any other Middle East country, and had about 60,000 active blogs as of last June.

On February 11th of this year, the anniversary of the 1979 revolution, Iranians attempted another set of demonstrations. Their plans were all but thwarted by the regime, which slowed Internet speed almost to a halt, blocked opposition websites, scrambled television signals and spied on the messages of alleged dissidents. It even introduced a "cyber-crimes" bill, and plans to ban access to Google's Gmail.

In March, the United States licensed the first anti-censorship encryption software, Haystack, for export to Iran. Haystack, with the motto "good luck finding that needle," helps circumvent censorship by shrouding its users in anonymity. Haystack prevents the cyber police from identifying the Web activity of an individual citizen.

If the government shuts down Internet access entirely, all hope is not lost. According to Sick, much of the opposition's communication takes place on the street through Bluetooth cell phone signals. Because the signals are short range, Bluetooth is difficult for the government to block. And even if the regime disables the Internet, the connection is still "spotty" and works in some areas, Sick said. "It's very hard to keep people from communicating these days," Sick said. " There are so many ways to do it. There are still ways to get around this system."

Sharing information online is crucial because most customary meeting places are forbidden to dissidents in Iran. "Traditional networks [like mosques and religious centers] are monopolized by the government," Khaliji said. "The only hope for the Green movement is coming from the outside." Outside sources like BBC Persian are crucial for information dissemination, Khaliji said. More than 30 percent of Iranians have access to satellite television.

But even if members of the Green movement are able to circumvent government media censorship or pick up satellite television signals, the international community shouldn't expect huge demonstrations on June 12 in Iran. "If the Green movement wants to take action, they have to surprise the government," Khaliji said. " If they plan for something, they give the Iranian regime the opportunity to plan for a crackdown."

Now, most experts are preaching patience. The movement could take time to get back on its feet in light of recent intimidation tactics. In the meantime, some, like Roxana Saberi, are calling for increased activism domestically. In an op-ed last week, Saberi decried Iranian human rights abuses, and called on American citizens to protest and denounce Ahmadinejad's regime. Saberi suggests participating in domestic protests and rallies on June 12, supporting human rights groups with Iranian campaigns, and taking part in letter-writing campaigns to flood Iranian officials with criticism. Reminding the opposition that they are not alone could empower the movement, she says. And when ordinary citizens protest the actions of the hardliners, "Tehran has a tougher time asserting that their calls have been masterminded by foreign governments."

While most Iranians support the government's pursuit of nuclear power, despite global controversy and new sanctions, most of the nation is angry about the treatment of its citizens. Ahmadinejad's regime is sensitive to that.

"Human rights is [an issue] where the Iranian regime clearly feels vulnerable," Duss said, pointing to the criticism it attracted after the failed bid for a spot on the UN Human Rights Commission. "They claim to be a just government, but when you point out these abuses, this is criticism to which they've shown to be pretty sensitive."

Hillel Fradkin, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and director of the Center for Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World, is confident Ahmadinejad will eventually fall. "The regime is coming a bit unglued," he said. "There is a factional split in the regime between Ahmadinejad and Moussavi, and it is very dependent on the Revolutionary Guard -- that itself is divided. There is weakness on the side of the opposition, but tremendous fissures on the side of the regime. In the long term, that means the regime will collapse."

It may not collapse on June 12 or even on July 12. But the experts are encouraging the world to keep hope alive. The score of the revolution game isn't set yet. "The first round went to the opposition and the second round has gone to the regime," Fradkin said. "We'll see where it goes from here."

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Freedom of the Press: Can Journalists Overcome Increased Threats?

Katie Glueck — 2010-05-25T16:15:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

Earlier this month, the International Women's Media Foundation released the names of journalists tapped for its prestigious Courage in Journalism Award. The foundation will honor three investigative journalists and bloggers at ceremonies this October.

The stories of the honorees -- Claudia Duque, 39, of Colombia; Tsering Woeser, 43, of Tibet; and Vicky Ntetema, 51, of Tanzania -- are stories of tenacious and brave reporting, but they are also stories of exile, kidnapping and death threats. According to the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), the goal of distributing this award is both to "honor brave women journalists from around the world and [to] highlight the importance of freedom of the press and the courage needed in many countries to report the news."

The award announcement came just a few weeks after the U.N.'s World Press Freedom Day (on May 3), in the wake of the worst year of violence against journalists in recent memory -- more than 70 journalists were killed in 2009. Joel Simon, of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said the last few years have been tough ones for journalists devoted to freedom of the press.

"There are many trends, and most of them are not good," said Simon, who is the executive director of CPJ, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting global press freedom."If you just look at raw numbers, last year saw a record number of journalists killed. It's a pretty rough world for journalists right now."

The high number is attributable in part to violence surrounding last year's elections in the Philippines, where around 30 journalists were killed. But Freedom House, an independent freedom watchdog organization, reported that press freedom in general has declined for the eighth straight year in a row, "with setbacks registered in every region of the world" last year.

Here is a look at what's driving the decline in press freedom and the reasons why the situation may improve in the future.

Crossing Red Lines

With a subject as broad as "press freedom," it can be difficult to sum up global trends, said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the program coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa at CPJ. Even within regional trends, there are many exceptions to the rules. But it is clear that many regimes are willing to go to draconian lengths to silence journalists, he said.

"The ultimate [issue] is that governments have a problem with journalists who cross certain red lines, and various governments are willing to go to various lengths to intimidate those journalists," he said.

And while the political situation in Russia might differ drastically from that of Mexico or Iran, there are a number of overarching themes in the story of press suppression, Simon said, a prime example being the increase in journalist imprisonments, especially freelancers and bloggers.

"There are an [increasing] number of journalists in prison around the world," he said. "Half of the journalists in jail have worked online. There's also been a sharp increase in the number of freelancers arrested. More and more news is disseminated online by freelancers with no institutional affiliations, so they're vulnerable."

According to Reporters without Borders, an international non-governmental organization committed to freedom of the press, 163 journalists have been imprisoned so far this year. An additional 117 "netizens," or online journalists (like bloggers) are also in prison, according to the organization's website.

But not everyone who uses "new media" like blogs is committed to freedom of the press, Simon said. He explained that as new outlets for communication develop, terrorist and criminal groups are changing the way they view journalists, and it's not necessarily a change for the better.

"If you look at a place like Iraq, for example, there's a relationship between the level of violence and changes in the way information is disseminated," Simon said. "Historically, guerrilla groups used the press to convey their message to the world -- they had no other way of doing it. But that's no longer true today. These groups have very aggressive, sometimes fairly sophisticated strategies for communicating. This makes journalists dispensable, and if the message you want to send is one of terror, killing journalists is a pretty effective way of doing that."

For Dayem, the "most alarming, most disturbing" global trend is what freedom advocacy groups like CPJ and Freedom House call the "climate of impunity." Close to 600 journalists have been murdered since 1992 -- not including roadside bombings, cross-fire and other battlefield risks. The perpetrators of these crimes are rarely apprehended, Dayem said.

"Nine out of ten times, killers who target and kill journalists have never been brought to a court of law," Dayem said. "They're never held accountable for killing journalists, so it's no wonder that the parties that have killed journalists to silence them in the past continue to do so. There's a very low chance of having to pay a price for the crime."

Since 1992, 811 journalists have been killed -- 521 with "complete impunity" -- with 13 killed this year, according to CPJ's count.

Challenges on the Horizon

Pakistan tops the list of deadliest countries for journalists in 2010, with three journalists killed so far. Thailand trails with two deaths. When it comes to concerns for the future, though, Simon said Iran is a key country to watch.

Iran surpassed China this year as the leading jailer of journalists -- 35 are in Iranian prisons right now, down from a high of 52 in March. But 18 were freed on furlough, meaning they can be taken back into custody at any point, Simon said.

"Imprisoned journalists are held incommunicado, abused, tortured, some die in custody . . . it's a very, very alarming situation," he said. "The impact it has on media in Iran is profound. While Iran was never an open society, there was a certain level of tolerance for critical journalism and some thriving independent media outlets. Those are gone, many leading journalists are in jail and the future for freedom of expression in Iran looks very bleak indeed."

Declining press freedom is inherently troubling, but it is also emblematic of more serious problems, said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, in a press release issued last month.

"Freedom of expression is fundamental to all other freedoms. Rule of law, fair elections, minority rights, freedom of association, and accountable government all depend on an independent press which can fulfill its watchdog function," Windsor said. "When the Iranian Revolutionary Guards torture a journalist, or Communist authorities in China imprison a blogger, or criminal elements in Russia assassinate yet another investigative reporter, it sends a clear message that every person fighting for basic rights is vulnerable to a similar fate."

What's most concerning about Iran isn't the actual state of press freedom; conditions are much worse in other places, Simon said. Rather, it's the pace at which press liberty declined there.

"Many other countries have a long history of total or near-total suppression of all critical speech, from Cuba to Eritrea to North Korea," Simon said. "What's so dramatic about Iran is that it went from a society in which a certain level of critical journalism was tolerated to now, where journalists face horrific consequences. It's the country where the state of press freedom has deteriorated most rapidly."

Not All Gloom and Doom

Yet it is a story that comes out of Iran which gives Simon hope for the future of press freedom. Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist, was imprisoned in Iran's notorious Evin prison last year on charges of espionage deemed baseless by the U.S. government. Thanks in part to a highly publicized global campaign that involved students, media and politicians, she was released last May.

"Something about her story really captured the public imagination," Simon said. "There was a groundswell of support from people all over the world who were concerned about her situation and helped win her release. People are starting to understand what's at stake -- that the right to express ideas and to communicate are fundamental human rights."

Through the Internet and other forms of social media, people are more aware than ever before about the challenges confronting freedom, he said.

"It used to be the way to change public opinion was to get a few stories in the media -- get something on the editorial page of the New York Times," Simon said. "That's still important, but if you really want to change public sentiment, you have to use new social media to get the word out. Through the Internet and the access to low-cost communications, technology has made a huge difference in the ability of people around the world to share information. For those who make the effort, there's probably more information available than at any time in human history."

Through that knowledge comes heightened engagement, he said.

"There's greater involvement in tracking issues, sharing with friends, signing petitions," he said. "And people who care about these issues are willing to respond to social media outreach. And it feels like there's a lot more of that going on."

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Basketball Team's Arizona Immigration Controversy Unifies Highland Park High

Elizabeth Weingarten — 2010-05-22T23:00:00+00:00

Filed under: The Cram

The students at Highland Park High School are going rogue. Maybe Tuesday's Be-In, an outdoor rally to demonstrate school-wide unity after last week's barrage of negative media attention, wasn't exactly what Sarah Palin had in mind when she told the girls' basketball team to follow her famous example. Still, the teens spoke out in their own way.

"I want [the Be-In] to reunite us and show that we are one school and we can rise above this media chatter," said senior Scott Wolf, one of the Be-In organizers.

In case you haven't been following the Highland Park saga, the high school in the northern suburbs of Chicago made national news last week when administrators decided to pull the girls basketball team from an upcoming December tournament in Arizona because of the state's new immigration law. Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Whoopi Goldberg all chimed in on the decision, saying the school had overstepped its bounds and that administrators shouldn't let politics interfere with opportunity.

The girls, who snagged a spot in the national conference championships for the first time in 26 years, had baked cookies to pay their way to Scottsdale, Arizona. Now they will head to Orlando for an alternative tournament.

At first, District 113 Assistant Superintendent Suzan Hebson said the trip "would not be aligned with our beliefs and values," leading many to claim politics were the sole reason behind the decision. Later, Hebson claimed the decision was based on safety concerns. HPHS is 15 percent Hispanic, and Hebson has said she doesn't know how many Hispanic women will be on next year's basketball team (school administrators didn't respond when contacted to comment for this article).

Under Arizona's new immigration law, police have the power to stop and detain anyone who they have reason to suspect is in the country illegally. It also grants them the ability to charge immigrants with a state crime if they aren't carrying their alien registration documents.

Still, the decision left many HPHS parents and students baffled. "Why are we mixing politics and a basketball tournament?" Michael Evans, the father of basketball player Lauren Evans, said to the Chicago Tribune last week. "It's outrageous that they're doing this under the guise of safety."

At a recent school board meeting, one World War II vet who lives outside the district said he would boycott Highland Park to protest the administration's decision. A Tucson businessman offered to pay for the team's transportation, meals and hotel so they could still play ball.

Jackie Onofre, a senior at HPHS who comes from a family of Mexican immigrants, understood the administration's stance on the immigration issue, but was disappointed that its views were expressed in a negative way.

"The girls worked hard for the position they're in right now," said Onofre, who believes the decision was based on politics more than safety. "There should be another way to make that statement without having to cancel their tournament trip."

Sarah Palin agreed with Onofre. While she was visiting Chicago last week, the former Alaska governor publicly -- and scrappy high school basketball player -- denounced the administration's decision in front of a crowd of 4,000 supporters. "Them are fightin' words when you say a girl can't play in the basketball tournament . . . for political reasons," Palin said at the Rosemont Theatre in Rosemont, Ill.

So on a cool, cloudy Tuesday morning in Highland Park this week, a group of students gathered in front of campus to grill hot dogs, play Frisbee and chalk the asphalt parking lot with the words, "I Heart HP."

They weren't protesting the administration's decision, but they weren't supporting it, either. They looked more unified than ever. And maybe even smarter than ever. Most said that before the basketball controversy, they didn't know much about the new immigration law. "But now that our school is involved, we know a lot more about it," said freshman Rachel Goldberg. "Our classes have been going over the laws."

The idea for the Be-In came to Aliya Charney while she was sitting in class, discussing the controversy with her peers. "I felt so sad about what was going on," said Charney, a senior who attended her final day of high school last week. " I just didn't want to leave the school the way that it was, with everyone angry at each other for not agreeing with each other."

Senior David Braun, a friend of Charney's, was grateful for what the Be-In could demonstrate to critical outsiders.

"It's not a divisive issue among the students," he said. "We can go beyond the politics of the issue and show that we are a strong community."

Click play below to watch a slideshow of photos from the HPHS Be-In (all photos by Elizabeth Weingarten for Politics Daily):

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