Back from Qatar
In a week it will be commencement weekend at Carnegie Mellon. The ceremony will hold special interest for the School of Computer Science, since Google CEO Eric Schmidt will be the keynote speaker. But in fact, we’ve already had a bevy of rousing commencement events last week, at our campus in Doha, Qatar. Graduating there was our second class of computer science bachelor’s degrees. Also graduating were CMU business administration and information science students. I was lucky enough to be in Qatar for all of it.
Four nights in a row of celebratory events, meetings with superb faculty members and, best of all, encounters with our really impressive students. Because the Education City initiative is so important to Qatar and the entire region, the country goes all-out to celebrate its new graduates. Believe me, it was an A-1, first-class, joyous series of events.
But amidst all of the splendid goings-on, there was one unassuming item that captured my attention. It was a “senior video,” made by and for the graduating seniors. For me, it seemed to capture most authentically the student experience at CMUQ. Check out the first part of the video:
People around the world may disagree on certain ideals, but in the ways that matter most, college students everywhere are more alike than different. And this, in a nutshell, is why Education City in Qatar is important.
Peter Lee @ May 10, 2009
CMU Qatar is a nice initiative, but I wonder how the local religious sentiments are taken care of along with the liberal education of CMU.
Personally, seeing girls wearing head scarves (hijaab) in an institution like CMU (example of american values of freedom and equal rights) is a little upsetting.
I don’t know how the 1st comment thinks that head scarves (hijaab) are against liberalism. Americans should know that people around the world, have different styles of life and that the American style is “a” way of life not “the” way. In fact, as a student at CMU coming from the Arab region, we believe that our way of life prevents a lot of problems people are facing in the US with much higher rates such as sexually abusing women, children without known fathers etc.
CMU is right in focusing on providing high quality education which everybody needs regardless of their way of life but let people live the way they like.
“I don’t know how the 1st comment thinks that head scarves (hijaab) are against liberalism.”
Its against liberalism, if someone is forced to wear it. And the so called american way of life which has lots of problems is far better than taking away all rights from women.
Let me point out that (a) neither CMU nor the Qatar government impose any dress codes on anyone, (b) our students wear all sorts of things on campus, with jeans and t-shirts being typical, and (c) our students at CMUQ come from 14 different countries, making it hard to make general statements about “liberalism”.
My observation is that many female students at CMUQ seem equally comfortable, when on campus, with and without headdress. For celebratory occasions (eg, commencement parties) or being very public (eg, on a youtube video) feel far more comfortable being covered. At no point does this seem forced, though it does vary from person to person, depending on nationality and ethnic background.
I would think that watching the interactions of the students on this video would show that, except for the dress, college students are pretty much the same everywhere.
Funny enough I like our CMU haircut and think you are really cool.
Its nice to see you returned safely, l have heard a bad things about the way they treat westerners