Parking, Pomona, and Privilege

A blogger at Pomona College by the name of Amanda is at it again. You might remember her suggestion that are smokers suicidally depressed and that the Coop ought to prohibit selling them cigarettes.

Now she's in effect declaring that her parking space is worth more than an estimated $1.6 million dollars that a bunch of alumni have already given in anticipation of their one-day event. Here's her email chain with one of the people overseeing the alumni weekend.

Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 10:40 AM
To: Nancy Treser-Osgood
Subject: Re: [ALL_STUDENTS] Dining Hall Closures & Parking Restrictions

Hi, Nancy,

Is there any way to let the alumni know not to park in the Lawry parking lot? There are way too many cars in that lot already, and if alumni decide to park there, it will cause huuuge problems.

Thanks!

Amanda

On Apr 30, 2008, at 10:44 AM, Nancy Treser-Osgood wrote:

I don’t think many alumni will park there, Amanda, since we only have one event in Frary on Friday afternoon. But that lot is listed on the campus map as an area where alumni can park.

I know it’s going to get crowded this weekend, but I appreciate your understanding as we welcome these alumni back to campus. By the way, this group of reunion classes has already pledged or donated $1.6 million to the College.

-Nancy

From: Amanda
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 10:51 AM
To: Nancy Treser-Osgood
Subject: Re: [ALL_STUDENTS] Dining Hall Closures & Parking Restrictions

Okay, that’s fine. Are there going to be additional lots where students can park (or, since it’s the weekend, faculty/staff lots that will be opened to students)? Unfortunately, it’s not just that it’s crowded, it’s that there are frequently no parking spaces at all.

On Apr 30, 2008, at 10:52 AM, Nancy Treser-Osgood wrote:

I have not made any special arrangements for student parking this weekend. I’m just trying to accommodate our alumni guests. Sorry!

-Nancy

She follows it up.

Gosh, that’s really annoying.

I really hate the attitude Pomona has about a lot of this stuff–like “you’d better be grateful for what we’re giving you, peons.” Why? “Because some old rich people are donating money.” News flash: I give approximately one-sixteenth of a shit that these particular alumni have donated $1.6 million.

As Claremont McKenna would (and frequently does) say: “Puck Fomona.”

Way to be loyal and differential to your school, Amanda!

Maybe she believes that parking, like free medical counseling paid for by the school, is a "right." Free parking isn't just for Monopoly anymore.

Pipes Punctures State-Run Govt. Myths at Ath

Sally Pipes felt like detox after the Pomona non-debate on health care. I'm so glad that I finally decided on sitting at the head table.

I didn't even much mind that she insulted my eating habits when she suggested that I might have eaten less had I been paying for it. (Milton Friedman be damned, there is such a thing as a free lunch at an Ath event! Never you fear, I got my dig in against the Trayliban during the Question and Answer period.)

She's quite right, of course and Milton Friedman would agree with her critique of my rather ravenous behavior. After all, he wrote the introduction for her book before he passed away.

I've already blogged about the five myths that Ms. Pipes debunks about the health care crisis. You can read those five arguments here. Or you can listen to her talk about the issue here.

I thought I would just send along some of the stuff she's written against Mitt Romney's shame health care. It's worth reading just how bad mandates end up being.

Faisal Alam: Reckless tool for the Queer Resource Center

Yesterday evening, at the behest of the Queer Resource Center, Faisal Alam, founder of the "LGBT" Muslim group al-Fatiha, spoke at Balch Auditorium on the subject of "The Lives of LGBT Muslims." While one would expect a responsible organization to attempt to unite the student body around common values of human dignity, the Queer Resource Center, in the pattern of its past actions, pandered to the radicals in the "LGBT" community and played Russian roulette with its own credibility.

Faisal Alam, himself a rather amateur public speaker, behaved more like a CAIR apologist than an advocate of human rights during the first section of his talk. Alam went through a typical list of CAIR-esque talking points, including the derivation of the word "Islam" from the word "salaam," peace (thus Islam is a "religion of peace"), the relatively small number of radicals in Islam, and how conflicts in the Middle East, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, have been "hijacked" (no pun intended) by Islamic religious radicals. The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, however--the dictionary used in Arabic classes at CGU--makes very clear that "Islam" itself means "submission." As for radicals comprising a "small number," polls show that around 40% of British Muslims favor implementing Sharia law in Great Britain. And certainly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complex, but undoubtedly Grand Mufti al-Husseini played a large role in escalating it. Based on flimsy claims such as these, Alam tried to argue that there is no "clash of civilizations" between the West and radical Islam; rather laughably, he cited Pope Benedict XVI's visit to a Turkish mosque as proof that Islam and Christianity have "no conflict"--perhaps he would do better to read this pope's words rather than just stare at him in photographs.

CAIR's version of Islam was only an unnecessarily lengthy precursor to the main part of Alam's talk, though. Alam described the experience of growing up in a very religious Muslim home, becoming very committed to Islam himself, and then gradually discovering his homosexuality. Of his time during college, Alam says that he "exploded out of the closet where over the course of one summer I knew every gay bar in Boston." Alam quickly followed this thought with the hint, "If you guys are ever in Boston and want to know where to hang out, let me know and I'll tell you." That's right, the Queer Resource Center sponsors speakers who publicly encourage promiscuity. With no mention of drug-resistant staph infection or that syphilis is skyrocketing among the "gay" community in our own back yard. Just one more piece of evidence that the Queer Resource Center is a cynical organization that cares little for the welfare of homosexual students, so long as it can manipulate them as political pawns.

During the question and answer session, Alam asserted that the Islamic world only began to look down upon "LGBT" lifestyles after Victorian sexual mores were exported to the Middle East by colonial influence in the 19th century. Recalling the last line of this event's flier, I asked Alam, "Since we're talking about exporting western values, could you comment more on the 'war on terror' and how that's affecting LGBT people in the Middle East? Do you think, given the huge influence of fundamentalist evangelicals in the Bush administration, that this war is their attempt to export their beliefs and affect LGBT people in the Middle East?" Alam's emphatic response was, "Yes. Exactly." He then went on to mock ABc (Abstinence, Being faithful to one's spouse, and condoms as a last resort) prevention programs in Africa, apparently oblivious that Uganda, the most successful African nation in combating the spread of HIV, has benefited entirely from this approach.

So there you have it. The Queer Resource Center hosts a speaker who says that the Pope likes Islam, encourages youth to have promiscuous, risky gay sex, and thinks that Evangelicals started the war on terror to persecute "LGBT" Muslims. And this is the organization that we trust to help homosexual students?