Comments on: Gender-Split Saudi Faculty at Virginia Tech Controversial

By: Rashid

Rashid — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 19:15:37 +0000

I am from Saudi Arabia and live in Arizona...I disgree the V.Tech..they can send people to teach them in saudi arabia...it is hypacracy..go to London, Cairo. other non saudi cities and you will see male and female mixing..chatting and dancing...By the way we have black and we refer to them by their name not color....I think liberated people should take stand...it is saud Najd culture and not the rule of Islam..take a look at more than 40 Muslim countries and they are all mix accept saudi arabia...it is funny..Money can Buy everything...

By: Otto Preminger

Otto Preminger — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 20:59:20 +0000

The university mentions in a statement on its web site that "the visitors believed that the learning environment in the computer laboratory would be more relevant in identical but separate sections...." See - "identical but separate"! They are not saying "separate but equal" like in Brown vs. Board of Education. There's no comparison. How can you possibly see any similarity? Anyway, Saudi Arabia is our friend, even if they're not a democracy. And anyway, we need their oil!

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 05:14:55 +0000

This article gives you a better idea of what really happened. http://www.collegiatetimes.com/news/1/ARTICLE/5469/2005-08-11.html

Virgina Tech did not set up the rosters for the class, the Saudis did. The Saudis enrolled enough people to create two sections of the class, and then set up the rosters segregating them by gender.

By: Abdullah

Abdullah — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 00:46:37 +0000

Well,
In Saudi Arabia we are accoustomed to this.Boys has their schools and so do girls. No one is complaining. Everyone likes living this way. We want it like this. IT IS OUR CHOICE. Don't host our students. BUT DON'T ASK US TO CHANGE OUR VALUES, pleaz.

By: Richard Gardner

Richard Gardner — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 16:42:29 +0000

I note in the article VA Tech "has allowed the classes to continue but has made the course segregation optional." Not sure what that means! For the visiting faculty (students), or the Tech faculty (instructors).

I also wonder if the sex segregation included the instructors - same course material, but women taught by women only, men by men? If this is the case, I can see a valid complaint by the instructors.

As for blacks in Saudi Arabia, there are quite a few, even some in the ibn Saud family (or half-black). Saudi Arabia officially outlawed slavery in 1962, and many of the slaves were from Africa.

There also may be non-Saudi faculty members who are black, since the pay is probably better there, than in say, Chad or Uganda.

By: Meezer

Meezer — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 16:39:03 +0000

If this were a private conference center, I would have little problem with it. However, we are told ad nauseum that our Universities stand for gender rights, diversity, etc. I am about as far from a radical feminist as you can find today, and this just feels wrong.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 16:15:02 +0000

It's their class. I don't believe they have any black people, though.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 16:10:36 +0000

The latest example of Western principles rolling over in their confrontation with Saudi cash.

What if the Saudis wanted blacks put in a separate class? Would that be cool too?