<p>Spidermom: The line *** “They never wanted me around, Except to calm their fears”*** really hit home when I read the following about Yale’s student recruitment. </p>
<p>I encourage colleges to seek out students with conflicting idealogies and vocation aspirations. However it bothers me that Yale has hypocritically decided ROTC programs and military careers are unwelcomed (and apparently unsuitable) vocations for Yale students.</p>
<p>Rahmatullah Hashemi is at Yale University. Although he only has a 4th grade formal education, he is smart and held an important job in the prior Taliban government of Afghanistan. He’s the former ambassador-at-large for his government. </p>
<p>This 27-year-old worked for and defended the Taliban, and Yale made a big effort to recruit him. In fact, Richard Shaw, undergraduate dean, said they “had another foreigner of Rahmatullah’s caliber apply for special student status.” He added, “We lost him to Harvard … I didn’t want that to happen again.” </p>
<p>As is his right, he continues to promote his views and support for the Taliban-style government. In fact, Yale encourages its foreign students to vocalize their opinions.</p>
<p>My complaint is not that Yale recruits foreign students with ideologies that oppose some of the basic tenets of our democracy (in fact I think its a good idea), my complaint is that it does not extend the same right and encouragement to all of our own country’s students.</p>