Sayed Ramatullah Hashemi will not get a degree from Yale, Hot Air reports in a blogospheric scoop later confirmed by the New York Times. The former ambassador-at-large for the oppressive Taliban regime in Afghanistan found out that Yale decided that they had endured enough embarrassment over their decision to allow Hashemi to enroll at the Ivy League school at all, and barred him from entering a degree-granting program after a cascade of criticism and protest:

A student at Yale University who was once a roving ambassador for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has been denied admission to a degree-granting program at Yale, one of the student's financial supporters said yesterday.

The student, Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, apparently can continue to take courses at the university as an untraditional student in a non-degree program, as he did during the past academic year, said Tatiana Maxwell, the president of the International Education Foundation, which was created to raise money to send Mr. Hashemi to Yale. ...

Yale was sharply criticized by conservatives in opinion articles in The Wall Street Journal and in other newspapers and magazines, as well as on cable news shows and blogs, for opening its classrooms to a former representative of the Taliban, who harbored Al Qaeda and are trying to destabilize the government of Afghanistan.

At the same time, a number of Yale students and professors supported Mr. Hashemi's presence at the university. They argued that he would benefit from a Yale education and from the culture of tolerance and open inquiry that prevails at a university in the West; they also said they would benefit from having him at Yale.

It's odd that Yale would have trotted out the diversity argument, considering the regime that Hashemi represented. Let's recall that the Taliban beat women for not covering themselves from head to toe and men for shaving their faces. Ancient Buddhist carvings, considered artistic and historical treasures, exist no more thanks to Taliban tolerance. The Taliban also reintroduced the lovely Islamic tradition of tolerance by crushing homosexuals to death or throwing them off of towers.

The latter point seems especially germane when it comes to Yale. After all, they have taken the position that the American military cannot stage ROTC classes at the campus due to their "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding homosexuals in the military (which I also oppose, for several reasons). Yale's students and faculty argued that the university would benefit from having Hashemi's diverse viewpoint represented on campus, but they kicked out the military for a much milder viewpoint and action than that of Hashemi and his colleagues.And while they argue that Hashemi would have benefited the Yale community by his inclusion, no one appears to wonder whether Yale students might benefit from having the ROTC on campus and the diversity of political opinion it might create.

Yale invited Hashemi -- he didn't just show up and fill out an application. They went out of their way to get him to choose Yale, because as their admissions office stated, they didn't want to lose another "high profile" candidate to Harvard. Regardless of all the arguments about diversity and openness, all of which get belied by Yale's policies towards the American military, Yale obviously chose Hashemi as a tweak at the Bush administration. They thought that Hashemi's presence would embarrass the White House and give Yale some sort of moral authority.

Instead, they have demonstrated themselves to be hypocrites, and still do with this decision. Rather than deny him admission altogether, they denied him his application to a degree program, but will still allow him to attend the nondegree program. They're hoping he gets the hint and disappears voluntarily. Yale passed up an opportunity to take a clear stand against the intolerance and hatred that Hashemi represented.

Previous posts:

Going To Yale Instead Of To Jail
Yale's Response To Alumni Critics: 'Retarded'?
Now Batting For Taliban Man ... Jewish-Conspiracy Man!
Taliban Man Ups The Ante

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» Goodbye, Mr. Taliban from It Shines For All
Hot Air has the news that the Taliban Man at Yale is leaving (via Michelle Malkin): The New York Times’ education reporter, Alan Finder, told me that he has been in contact with the Boola Boola Mullah’s financial backers ,... [Read More]

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Hot Air broke the news and provides reaction from Clint Taylor of Townhall’s Nail Yale Blog (which is currently down, presumably due to the move): The New York Times’ education reporter, Alan Finder, told me that he has been in contact with t... [Read More]

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» Yale No Longer Taliban's New Haven from Suitably Flip
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Tracked on July 6, 2006 2:33 PM

» Yale’s Hypocrisy from The Golden Gate
Captain Ed has a great post about Yale’s courtship and eventual rejection of Hashemi, the Taliban’s former diplomat at large. Quotable: It’s odd that Yale would have trotted out the diversity argument, considering the regime that Has... [Read More]

Tracked on July 7, 2006 12:18 AM