Of Sun Xu, Baey, NUS, Jellyfish MOE and Yale

[Confuseous]

Sun’s being cast as whipping boy.And now NUS too is under attack for delaying the verdict. Never mind sparing a thought for what NUS has on its desk. Oh no it’s obviously open-and-shut, Sun should be sentenced to be lashed on the Merlion, mouth rigged wide open directly in the path of the water stream until he drowns or his belly fills up and bursts. Spilling a monkey’s guts as it would seem.

MOE shirked its responsibility and wants NUS to make the decision, but NUS is in no good position to. In fact, NUS has no good options anywhere. It’s been working hard for the better part of two decades now to seal a permanent place as one of the global elite, and it’s finally paying off in spades with tie-ups and satellite campuses and the Yale College.

So let me ask you liberals a question: How would Yale, standard-bearer of the liberal colleges around the world, handle a situation where a foreign student calls President Obama “stinkin’ nigger.” Or more relevantly, how would Yale perceive a university that persecutes a student for passing unkind comments about its host country? Or even more relevantly, what kind of precedent that persecuting Sun set for NUS’ collaborating universities (such as Yale)?

- http://piaroh.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/whistle-whip/

 

[palden]

Sinkees spineless and ball less la. This prc bite the hand which feed him and walk away as a free man.

 

[borom]

Friday, April 6, 2012.............

Despite a statement of opposition from University President Richard Levin, faculty voted by a wide margin to pass a resolution urging Yale-NUS College to uphold principles of non-discrimination and civil liberties at Thursday's Yale College faculty meeting.

The roughly 200 Yale College faculty members who attended the meeting spent two and a half hours discussing revisions to a resolution proposed last month by philosophy and political science professor Seyla Benhabib GRD '77. After debating the text of the three-paragraph resolution nearly word for word, professors — including some who support the Singaporean liberal arts college — approved a version that begins by expressing concern over a "history of lack of respect for civil and political rights" in the country. Immediately before the final vote, Levin made a brief statement objecting to that language..............

The meeting marked the first time faculty members have taken a stance on Yale-NUS through a formal vote. Levin said in February that the decision to launch the college ultimately rested with the Yale Corporation, as the venture is a new school and not a program within Yale College.

In the final version of the resolution, the Yale College faculty expresses concern over the history of civil rights in Singapore, urges Yale-NUS "to respect, protect and further" non-discrimination and civil liberty, and states that these values comprise the core of a liberal arts education.

Benhabib told the News Thursday that she was satisfied with the results of the meeting..............

Under Robert's Rules of Order, which govern the procedure of faculty meetings, Miller said votes can be taken by voice, standing or ballot. Bers said he felt the paper ballot vote was important because faculty have told him "they are afraid to have the administration see how they vote.".................

Yale-NUS is scheduled to open in fall 2013.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/apr/06/faculty-approve-yale-nus-resolution/

Hopefully the faculty members and students of the Yale-NUS college will speak up boldy on issues of political freedom and democracy in Singapore.
I often wonder why the social scientist in our "world class" universites are so quiet .
How can a university be considered as world class when faculty members do not speak up on issues affecting their own country/society?.