Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has decided to provide an education to male Saudi nationals in Saudi Arabia over the objections of Cal Poly faculty, students and the larger community.
The benefits are clear to the Cal Poly administrators but rather murky to the rest of us. Why are we here and what is it really we are going to get out of all of this?
It seems reasonable to look under the surface and see who and what Saudi Arabia really is. First of all, it is clear that the Saudi’s really don’t know much about the outside world… as one report states:
It’s also hard to grasp the plight of women in this part of the world until one looks at how women are viewed and treated at an early age. The case of 8 year old Najood Ali trying to divorce her 30 year old husband should have been a good focus for positive social change… but the Yemeni government found no compelling reasons to pursue this issue.
On a more chilling note in a CRS (Congressional Research Service) brief before Congress contained the following report:
In June 2002, in the course of briefing a high-level group that advises the
U.S. Department of Defense, an analyst from the Rand Corporation asserted
that “Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies” and added
that “the Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners
to financiers.”
So, why again is Cal Poly involved in Saudi Arabia?
Roger Freberg
In a related decision, the university plans to use more and more masters level students to cover the teaching load. It is important to realize that these individuals would not be qualified to teach at the community college. I will predict that these barely degreed undergraduates will take over more and more classes at Cal Poly. It is clear that this will now allow ‘the appropriate’ faculty free time to teach Saudi Nationals.