<p>Eygyptian courts rule against American University in Cairo–home to many Aemrican university students.</p>
<p><a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6737993.stm[/url]”>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6737993.stm</a></p>
<p>When I clicked on the picture of the student in face-veil, I thought about an odd experience from 1968 on my American campus that had nothing to do with Muslim women at all, but everything to do with security.</p>
<p>As a freshman, my parents mailed me a check to deposit for use to buy books. It was a lot of money to us. I left my room door open (everyone did) to go to the floor lounge nearby for several hours. When I returned, the check was missing from the top of my desk. The college is located in a small, trusting Midwestern town.</p>
<p>I went to the bank, and they reported the situation to police. The police called me in and said that my check had already been endorsed (signed with my name) and deposited, with most of it withdrawn as cash but a little bit deposited so that the teller wouldn’t be suspicious. The police showed me the check and I could readily see that someone had copied my signature with care but it wasn’t mine. My signature was all over my desk papers, and someone had the time to make a copy, obviously. So I told them it was not my own hand, but looked a lot like my signature. We compared this and they agreed.</p>
<p>Fortunately, said the police, the bank teller clicks under her foot a photo of every transaction as it occurs over the desk. (Long before security cameras were everywhere). They connected the time of the check exchange with the photograph and sat me down, saying, “Now, we’re going to show you a photo of this person who took your check and we need you to identify. Are you ready?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” I said, pretty scared but ready.</p>
<p>They flipped the picture. The girl was wearing a skihat pulled down to her eyebrows, a winter scarf covering the entire bottom of her face. ONly her eyes showed. They said, “Do you know her?”</p>
<p>Not only could I not identify her, but I couldn’t believe the bank teller would deal with anyone who presented herself this way for a monetary transaction.</p>
<p>The thief was never found, but the bank insurance covered my parents’ check. Obviously I learned to be much more careful with checks and room keys.</p>
<p>This has nothing to do with Muslims but everything to do with security, as I said.</p>
<p>So I wonder if someone in a full veil can commit crimes that will go undetected or unpunishable.</p>
<p>If she wants to wear it, let her. Now if she was forced to wear it, that would be a problem.</p>