Al l
Vol. 2 Issue 8
A R O U ND
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar
20 April 2006
East meets West
This week’s issue is dedicated to the world of politics inside CMU-Q, and out. Our feature stories will cover the spring break experiences of Carnegie Mellon’s finest, whilst
various other articles will be devoted to political issues and the controversial lowdown on
politicians.
Inside this issue...
STUDENT OPINION
Check out the advice our
counterparts in Pittsburgh
have for our students
See page 3
A LOOK AT OUR
COMMUNITY
Take a look at how culturally diverse CMUQ really is
See page 5
IS POLITICS REALLY
A DIRTY GAME?
Read Basheera’s report, and
then make up your own
mind
See page 6
THE UNIQUENESS
OF EDUCATION CITY
Our reporter fills you in on a
recent visit from Dr. Dwight
Rose of VCU-Q
See page 6
LET’S TALK
EXTREMISM
Check out what’s been going on at the Doha Debates
recently
See page 7
ENTERTAINMENT
Find out how well you
know your politicians
See page 8
From Left: Ryan Menafee, Blake Coughenour, Steve Reilly, ArrianaGutierrez, Samiha Kamel, Lina ElMenshawy, Yousef Al-Sabeeh, Marium Chandna, Reem Khaled, Imran Karim, Hicham Nedjari, Pat
Malatak, Noor Al-Athirah
Pittsburgh: Been there, done that
By Marium Shaukat Chandna
Staff Writer
Whenever the academics, activities and events of Carnegie Mellon’s Pittsburgh campus were mentioned here at our
campus in Qatar, it always stirred up my
interest and curiosity as to how it would be
like to be a part of all that action. I am sure
I was not the only one.
And probably that’s why when
several of us applied for the Alternative
Spring Break Trip to Pittsburgh, a combination of 9 freshmen and sophomores got
selected, namely Reem Khaled, Imran
Karim, Lina El-Menshawy, Samiha Kamel,
Basit Iqbal, Hicham Nedjari, Mona Maher,
Yousef Al-Sabeeh, and Marium Chandna.
We were accompanied by our
very own, Director of Student Activities,
Kristin Gilmore.
Continued on page 4...
2
All Around, Vol. 2 Issue 8
All Around’s
Directory
Meet the All Around Team
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
NOOR AL-ATHIRAH
Acting Editor-in-Chief
YASMINE ABDELRAHMAN
Content Editor
NOORA AL-ANSARI
Noor Al-Athirah
Yasmine Abdelrahman
Mona Maher
Noora Ansari
Copy Editor
MONA MAHER
Layout Editor
JINANNE TABRA
Theme Editor
AMUN BASHIR
Editor at-Large
BASHEERA BANU
Jinanne Tabra
Amun Bashir
Basheera Banu
Marium Chandna
Business Manager
NOOR AL-JASSIM
Staff Writers
NOOR AL-MAADEED
MARIUM CHANDNA
DANA HADAN
Photographer
YASSER KHAN
All Around is a bimonthly
student led newsletter.
It is Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar’s budding
student body voice. The
first issue was published
on the 28th of September
2004. A team of four students were successful in
publishing 8 issues in the
first year along with the
help of Kristin Gilmore
as their advisor.
You may forward any contributions, enquiries,
questions, or suggestions to our official email address
<all-around@qatar.cmu.edu>
Dana Hadan
Noor Al-Jassim
Noor Al-Maadeed
Yasser Khan
A Word from the Editorial Board
We would sincerely like to
thank all our devoted readers who consistently motivate us to continue improving
and fine tuning our publication.
We are especially proud that
many of our readers appreciate the latest
development of the newsletter's layout.
Without question, we appreciate
the contribution of every member of the
Carnegie Mellon University - Qatar family. Distinguishing this week's issue is
Associate Professor, Salam Mir's involvement.
We invite all our dear faculty
and staff members to do the same thing
even if by simply asking us to cover an
important event they are planning or
participating in.
We hope that you enjoy this
issue and the realm of political diversity
we have captured in it.
Have you missed our past issues?
Would you like an electronic copy of this
issue?
ALL AROUND IS AVAILABLE ONLINE
Please visit our website at:
http://www.qatar.cmu.edu/student/index.php?pg=allaround
All Around, Vol. 2 Issue 8
3
Advice from the other side of the world
Steve Reilly
Elizabeth Chen
Status: Freshman
Major: Biology
Interesting facts: Adores photography,
reading, and tinkering with computers.
Advice to students: “Regardless of
what campus you are on, I think that as
long as you give everything and take
every opportunity given to you, you
live up to the true standard of a great
CMU student, and you are bound to
have impact on the world.”
Blake Coughenour
Status: Freshman
Major: Biology
Interesting facts: Hopes to be a
surgeon or do medical research in
regards to thymus gland’s effect
on AIDS. Loves philosophy.
Advice to students: “Stay the
way you are. That’s why we admire you so much. Even though
there are negative stereotypes of
you guys, we’re here to inform
and transcend them.”
Rachelle Emard
Origin:A small town in Pennsylvania
Status: Freshman
Major: Physics
Interesting facts: “I'm only a few
flight hours from completing my private pilot’s license.” Hopes to return
to Qatar as a TA.
Advice to students: “Make sure you
are working in a field you are passionate about; it makes it that much
more exciting.”
Andy Butler
Origin: Miami, Florida
Status: Sophomore
Major: Policy and Management
Interesting facts: Resident assistant
at the Global Studies accommodation & captain of the cheerleading
squad.
Advice to students: “Study hard,
reach for the stars!”
Kamaria Hayden
Status: Senior
Major: Economics
Interesting facts: Will be working
for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
Advice to students: “You all have a
unique opportunity to really leave a
legacy at the school. As the first two
graduating classes, what you accomplish will pave the way for future
classes and how you perform will set
the standard for how the Middle East
and the world views Carnegie Mellon in Qatar.”
Left:
Rachelle
and Kami looking shady.
Right: Host Mohammed
Abo
Zainab entertains
Steve,
Kami,
Rachelle
and
Andy on a dhow
cruise on their
last night in
Doha.
Status: Freshman
Major: Undecided
Interesting
facts:
Interested in meeting
new people.
Advice to students:
“Focus on your studies, but remember to
keep things in perspective.”
4
All Around, Vol. 2 Issue 8
Qatar’s students serve Pittsburgh’s community
...Continued from page 1
The trip was fundamentally dedicated to
Community Service in different organizations
throughout the city of Pittsburgh, such as the Animal Rescue League, the Food Bank, Oakland Planning and Develpoment Corporation, Beginning
with Books Program Office, the UCP (United
Cerebral Polsy) Community Service Center, and
PRSEF (Pittsburgh Regional Science & Engineering Fair) at Heinz Field.
In addition, we attended some very interesting
campus events such as the annual Greek Sing which is a
philanthropic event designed to
benefit a philanthropy chosen each
year by the Greek Sing Chairs from the
involved fraternities, sororities and houses
and the overall Chairs.
What pleased me the most was the interaction
we had with the students and faculty at the
Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh. Their
kindness and hospitality was remarkable.
The experience overall was enthralling, and I
would definitely recommend all my fellow peers to
apply to the trip next year and have a similar, if not
better experience than my own.
Breaking the stereotype: From Pittsburgh to Qatar
By Amun Bashir
& Yasser Khan
A flurry of exchange trips between the Pittsburgh
and Qatar campus has allowed the Carnegie Mellon student
body to mutually foster and strengthen the bond of friendship, leaving distance in the dust.
The main purpose for these excursions is to overcome social stereotypes that have created a rift between the
East and West, and to discredit incorrect perceptions that
have been placed on Middle Eastern society by the media. In
the prime of their spring break, six buccaneering students
from the main campus ventured out to Doha in search for an
answer to what its sister campus had to offer.
Rachelle Emard, Steve Reilly, Blake Coughenour,
Kamaria Hayden, Andy Butler and Elizabeth Chen, arrived
in Doha without the slightest idea as to what they would be
facing in their new Arabian surroundings. Emard claimed,
“A lot of people would say that women are oppressed, and
that the Middle East is a dangerous place full of terrorists,
where you would get your finger chopped off for wearing
nail polish.”
They soon realized that nothing could be further
from the truth. The CMU-Q student body packed the visiting
students' itinerary with traditional lunches, dhow rides
around the bay of Qatar, and a whirlwind tour of the sand
dunes, thus allowing them to intermingle and equate with the
local student body.
Hayden noticed how the CMU-Q students, “are also
excited about starting their own traditions and making the
campus a full college experience.” All six students pointed
out the “introverted and individualistic” nature of people on
the main campus and marveled at the enthusiastic Carnegie
Mellon pride and sociability of our tiny campus.
Although the CMU-Q campus lies in a 1:50 student
ratio with the main campus, Reilly mentioned, “you really
prize and put the time into nourishing personal relationships.
The students I met were incredibly involved.” These
six visitors expected a far more traditional and undeveloped
city, a perception created by the media depicting the Middle
East. The high rise buildings and sandy beaches took them
by surprise as they indulged in experiencing the wonderful
springtime weather of Qatar.
All six students were intensely motivated to debunk
many of the stereotypes that have been associated with the
war in Iraq and the “danger” that supposedly exists at arms
length.
Chen commented that upon arriving in Pittsburgh,
they received a lot of derogatory comments such as “Glad
you didn’t get beheaded.” She claims that this stereotype “has
become our purpose to eradicate.”
The visitors will be sharing their experiences and
educating their fellow students in “jalabiyas”, to celebrate
global culture and embrace their differences. Butler iterates,
“I think if people understood how similar we are, it would
help the relationship between the two campuses grow.”
Rachelle Emard and Elizabeth Chen use unique visual aids during a
presentation to students. Rachelle: “This is how we say hi in Pittsburgh!”
All Around, Vol. 2 Issue 8
5
Student Government members enslaved for charity
By Jinanne Tabra
Student Government Vice President
Finals are just a few weeks away and the sprint to the
finish line has begun. The deadlines are piling up, the frequent
smiles around campus are fading, and the number of students
disappearing into Funke’s office, our Health and Wellness Advisor, everyday seems to be increasing exponentially.
But the student government has a plan. We recently
raised 7970QR for Education City’s Al-Kawthar Charity Or-
ganization by auctioning off our members to serve their highest bidders for an entire day, and we kicked Student Affairs’
– well, you know – in our first ever ‘Taboo!’ showdown.
We have been working on finding some stressbusting solutions for students, our campus clubs are once
again gaining momentum (pun not intended!), and your inboxes will soon be filled with announcements of an upcoming Murder Mystery Dinner. Until then, here are the past
couple of weeks in snapshots.
From Left: Mohammed Abo Zainab: “I’m not crazy, I’m Activities Coordinator.” Jinanne Tabra: “Shhh… If I can’t see them, they can’t see
me.” Imran Karim: “Don’t make me note down your behavior in these minutes.” Omar Alouba: “And… Levitate.” Nora Al-Subai: “This
little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.”
A single community spans the farthest corners of the world
By Dana Hadan
Staff Writer
The cultural diversity and the creation of an atmosphere that cherishes the sense of community while also respecting the individuality of each member has been at the
core of CMU's concerns since the institution came into being
106 years ago. Students, faculty and staff at CMU-Q repre-
sent over 30 nations, and from all the continents, and they
embody a wide array of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Our
goal is to acknowledge and respect the attributes each member brings to the university because of their unambiguous
background, culture and individual interests. We encourage
the array of their experiences to serve as a backdrop upon
which to build a campus community.
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All Around, Vol. 2 Issue 8
POLITICS: Is it really a ‘dirty game’?
By Basheera Banu
Acting Editor-in-Chief
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,913211,00.html >
Start talking about politics and people either
shake their heads with dismay or sneer with derision at
the very mention of the subject.
The word 'Politics' seems to stand for everything from treachery to false promises and fake hopes,
but never its actual meaning.
While thinking about politics brings to mind
the image of the daily mockery of international issues at
discussions and talks where powerful countries mutilate
the poorer or weaker nations to their advantage, this is
hardly what politics really is.
"Politics" is derived from the Greek word
"Polity", which means "state". The term is defined in the
encyclopedia Britannica as the ideology, structure and the
duty of a government and its relationship with other governments.
The fact that politics is thus the act of governing
a state while maintaining relationships with other states
makes it honorable. Then why is politics incessantly
snubbed as the 'dirty game'?
I believe that it is because of the people in
power that politics as a respectable field has been irreversibly blotted. History is a witness to many a politician who has made erroneous judgments that led to unforgivable offences like the Vietnam War and, in my
opinion, the recent Iraq invasion.
These leaders often tend to view world affairs
from a partisan and narrow angle that leads to manipulating them to meet their perception of what the world
should be like.
However, just
as we don't mark a game
as bad because a few
players play it badly,
one cannot comment on
politics as dirty owing
to the people who make
it deplorable. In essence,
politics is just a game;
let's hope that in the
near future we have
worthy players.
<http://politicalhumor.about.com>
Cross-campus interaction brings diversity to CMU-Q
By Yasmine Abdelrahman
Acting Editor-in-Chief
One of the unique
advantages Education City
offers to its students is the
diversity of ideas and human resources across all its
member educational institutions. As of the fall semester of 2005, some students have benefited from
this diversity through cross
campus registration.
Earlier this month,
Salam Mir, Associate Professor of English at CMU-Q,
tapped into Education City’s uniqueness. She invited Mr.
Dwight Rose, a faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University, to carry out a discussion with the students in English 76-250, Introduction to Global Literature
and Culture.
A native Jamaican, Professor Rose grew up in
Jamaica during the same period depicted in the film
“The Harder They Come” Professor Mir is teaching
this semester.
The movie is based on a true story of a poor
Jamaican man, Jimmy Cliff, who moves to the capital,
Kingston, to fulfill his dream of becoming a star
singer. However, he gets lost in the city lights and ends
up as a criminal/drug-dealer/victim.
Professor Mir was pleased to note that Professor Rose helped enrich the class discussion with his
first-hand experience regarding this post-colonial period of Caribbean history and culture.
We would like to thank Professor Rose for
contributing to Professor Mir’s class. We hope that
more cooperation among the institutions of Education
City takes place in the future so that we all gain from
the great dream we are a part of.
All Around, Vol. 2 Issue 8
7
Students of Education City talk Extremism
By Noor Al-Jassim
Business Manager
On the eighth of March, 2006, a group of CMUQ students and instructors attended the Doha Debates
special that was about extremists.
The debating panel comprised of Shaykh Hamza
Yousef, Archbishop Desmond Tutu (member of the Alliance of Civilizations), Professor John L. Esposito
(member of the Alliance of Civilizations), and Diana
Buttu (a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer residing in the
Gaza Strip).
The debate started at one thirty in the afternoon
with a special appearance of her Highness Sheikha Moza
Bint Nasser Al Missned, the Consort of His Highness the
Emir of Qatar. CMU-Q students were exuberant while
waiting for the debate to start. The panel discussed many
currents issues especially the Danish cartoons and extremisms.
This debate showed student's abilities to communicate and ask bold questions without hesitation. The
discussion was extremely heated and the audience participated consistently throughout and CMU-Q students
contributed their fair share. There were many questions
that were asked by the audience due to the significance
and relevance of the topic.
At the end of the discussion, many students had
one-on-one discussions with the panel members and
managed to get their signatures and photographs.
Keeping a business mind when it comes to Politics
By Noora Al-Ansari
Sophomore BSBA Student
As one of CMU-Q's business students, I believe
that we should all be aware of internationally acclaimed
organizations and business mergers and agreements. This
is because very few organizations have little to do with
world politics.
Many of us diligently attempt to separate ourselves from the world of politics, but politics affect every
single one of us; whether we are dealing with business or
not. One of the latest and most
politically influential business
agreements is that of CAFTA.
courts for expropriation of anticipated profits. (In other
words, if a government enacts a law or regulation that cuts
into the money a corporation thinks it could make, the government must pay for the privilege of enacting that law.)
The US, Canadian, and Mexican governments have paid
corporations tens of millions of dollars for violating these
new “corporate rights” under NAFTA.
CAFTA is a stepping stone toward the FTAA, a trade
agreement covering the entire western hemisphere (except
Cuba). CAFTA’s weak, totally unenforced labor and environmental standards are a dangerous precedent for the
FTAA which will create the largest free trade area in the
world.
What is CAFTA?
The U.S.-Central American Free
Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is a
free trade agreement now being
negotiated between the United
States and five Central American
nations: Guatemala, El Salvador,
Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa
Rica. CAFTA extends the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) to include Central America.
Does Central America want CAFTA?
The governments say “yes” but the people say “no.” This
year, CAFTA negotiating sessions in all the Central American countries have been met with massive protests. Opposition is also rising among Central Americans in this country, partly because CAFTA could be the death knell for
small farmers and affordable services in the region.
What’s wrong with NAFTA?
NAFTA has cost Canadians, Mexicans, and U.S. residents
hundreds of thousands of stable, well-paying jobs. Environmental and labor standards have suffered in all three
countries. But that is just the tip of the problem.
NAFTA set forth a model of international trade built on
new “corporate rights,” including the right of corporations
and investors to sue governments in special secret trade
For more information please visit:
How can I get involved?
To support this campaign, get involved or get more information, please contact:
Jeannette Huezo at jhuezo@faireconomy.org”
http: //www.faireconomy.org
This article was taken from:
http: //www.faireconomy.org
8
All Around, Vol. 2 Issue 8
G
a
r
f
e
i
l
d
Internet Source <http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Tower/1244/halloween/comic9.gif>
How well do you know your politicians?
Now it’s time to see how close attention you pay to the news. See if you can guess who these politicians are:
(a)
(c)
(b)
(e)
(d)
Political Cartoon Answers:
(a) Kofi Annan,
(b) (b) Saddam Hussein,
(c) Vladimir Putin,
(d) Condoleeza Rice,
(e) Prince Charles
Sources: (a)http://www.geocities.com/aswiniabani/annan.JPG (b)http://www.activistsreader.com/cartoon%20folder/saddam-hiding.jpg (c)http://
www.youcandraw.com/images/putin-1-rdy.jpg (d)http://www.magixl.com/caric./starsb/rice.gif (e)http://www.dansmithartist.com/gallery_files/charles.gif