Political geographer Georges Prevelakis spoke on the various challenges facing Greece in a discussion hosted by the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies yesterday afternoon.

Prevelakis, a former Tufts affiliate and current professor at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, elaborated on Greece’s interactions with the European Union and talked about the profound implications of Greece’s debt woes in the wake of the financial crisis.

“Today we received unpleasant news from Greece,” Prevelakis said. “The financial deficit has grown.”

Prevelakis contextualized his speech by discussing Greece’s history and its “contradictory” reputation over the years.

“There is an ambiguity about the image of Greece,” Prevelakis said, noting that the nation’s positive image during the 2004 Olympic Games strongly contrasted with its reputation during the sovereign debt crisis just five years later.

Aside from history, Prevelakis discussed some of the factors that contributed to the debt crisis.

As he explained, neither the private nor the public sector was healthy in the time leading up to Greece’s sovereign debt crisis.

“From the moment Greece was in the Eurozone, it could borrow money,” Prevelakis explained.

But as Greece took out loans from other nations, this capital was not matched by foreign dollars coming into the nation to support business and development.

In fact, “practically no foreign investment was taking place in Greece,” Prevelakis said.

Prevelakis went on to discuss Greece’s issues with corruption in the public sector, particularly in the fields of education and healthcare.

As he explained, Greek taxes often failed to cover the national cost for public services. As a result, many Greek citizens wound up paying for services twice—first through their taxes, and later through under-the-table payments at schools and hospitals.

“The public sector was not functioning well,” Prevelakis said. “These forms of corruption start small but then grow.”

In discussing the nation’s membership in the European Union, Prevelakis said Greece is integral to the EU as “a member for three decades and a pioneer of the enlargement of the EU.”

He continued by noting that the financial problems in Greece are not completely isolated from the rest of Europe.

“Greece is in trouble, but so is the EU,” he said.

Are you waking up at 4 a.m. on Friday to watch the royal wedding? I’m not. I am experiencing royal wedding burnout that is rapidly developing into British culture burnout.

I yearn for the days when I could procrastinate for hours online and not be assaulted by endless side-by-side pictures comparing the style of Princess Diana and Kate.

I’m sorry, “Catherine.” I want to hear more about Snooki’s weight loss, what bathroom Charlie Sheen is snorting his drugs in, who Suri Cruise is wearing — and I want to read the newest obnoxious quote from Gwyneth Paltrow on why we should all be rich.

And I don’t want to have to search for those articles. I should be able to just go straight to the Yahoo! homepage and see them as headlines. Don’t the editors know what is important?

If I see another italicized or pastel-colored royal wedding headline I am going to dump all of my English Breakfast tea into Lake Houston. I might even do the same with all of my commonwealth teas.

Regina Spektor provides a perfect critique of the royal wedding hysteria on her Facebook page. Since her name means “Queen,” she is a credible source on these matter.

“Perhaps royal people everywhere should apologize for the years of pretending they were somehow chosen by a higher power to rule, enslave and colonize,” Spektor said on her Facebook page. “Instead of holding a déjà vu wedding — a strange costly neurosis playing out on the world’s psyche, they could just admit they aren’t any closer to the top. They can’t pull some strings where it matters.”

Amen.

I will love Regina Spektor until the day I die — until her glottal stops become a natural result of her senility and inability to remember words, and are no longer just a part of her singing style.

She makes a valid point. The British royal family doesn’t have any real power anymore — and this is rightfully so. Their chief jobs are waving, wearing hats, collecting flowers from well-wishers and looking approachable at pancake-flipping marathons.

Apparently Prince William and Kate Middleton are very promising in these areas, especially in the area of waving. They have decided to use an open palm wave — how progressive of them.

According to The Mirror, an English online publication, “The open palm display signals openness and approachability that is only slightly tempered by the fact that it is very similar to the signal for ‘Stop.’”

Do we really need articles published about the body language of these people?

There has even been a phenomenon lately of people finding the likeness of Middleton in random objects. A British couple apparently found her face on a jellybean and is trying to sell it online. I’m sure they will fetch quite a few pounds for it.

I found myself a victim of this subliminal royal wedding advertising the other day as I was unconsciously finding Her Royal Highness Princess William of Wales’ face in lattes, sidewalks, dirty napkins, and ashtrays. Fortunately, after getting a solid eight hours of sleep I was healed of my royal wedding psychosis.

If there comes a time when it is impossible to fight the royal propaganda, maybe UH could just cash in on the neurosis.

Maybe we could “accidentally” incorporate Kate Middleton’s face into a new sidewalk, or possibly into the layout of an entire building. We would have people transferring in from all over the country to see, not only James Franco, but Kate’s likeness as well.

Let us hope that all of this dies down soon, and the royals go back to their charity work and walking their Corgis.

I hope this happens sooner rather than later, because I’m not sure how long I can go without a cup of Twinings tea.

A USF graduate student departs next month on a physically demanding journey in hopes of improving the living conditions of others.

Grace Tidwell, a graduate student studying medicine, embarks on a two-month group cycling trip from North Carolina to California next month in an effort to raise money and awareness for affordable housing.

Bike and Build, a Philadelphia-based organization, planned the trip, Office Manager Molly Jacobs said.

“As much as we’re about providing for affordable housing groups, we’re also about engaging young adults in civic service, and what this does is that it shows them this is how they can directly make an impact on their surroundings,” she said. “It shows them that by their actions and efforts they can directly help the affordable housing crisis.”

Tidwell is the only USF rider in a group of 32 from across the country. The cyclists leave North Carolina on May 13, stopping at community centers, churches and host families’ homes along the way to talk to people about affordable housing issues.

Affordable housing, which costs no more than 30 percent of a family’s income according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website, is less accessible across the country in light of the current economy.

Tidwell said she needed 10 volunteer hours to qualify for the trip, which she accumulated while building homes with Habitat for Humanity.

“This is a cause I really believe in and that definitely keeps me going,” she said. “It’s a cause that everyone can get behind because affordable housing is an issue that could affect anyone, especially with the current state of our economy. The real problem is that minimum wage has not been able to keep up with the growing needs of the economy. Programs like (Bike and Build and Habitat for Humanity) fill in that gap.”

To prepare, Tidwell said she bikes up to 10 miles on the Flatwoods Park trail every day — 60 miles short of what she’ll be expected to bike on an average day of her trip.

In addition to volunteer hours, Tidwell must raise $4,000 toward her stay fees, while the rest will be donated to Bike and Build for other affordable housing initiatives.

She said she’s collected $3,000 from family members and sells Premier Designs jewelry outside of the College of Medicine. The jewelry company donates part of all profits sold on campus to her fund. Tidwell said she will continue until she raises the remaining $1,000.

“It’s a large amount, but I’m partially there,” she said.

She also collects donations through her blog, 3588miles.blogspot.com, which she will update throughout her trip.

While a sophomore at the University of Florida, Tidwell said she first heard of the program from a friend who was in it and it piqued her interest.

“When (my friend) got back, she told me it was an absolutely life-changing, eye-opening experience,” she said. “It seemed like a really great program, and I was really interested in finding ways to help out in the community.”

Though Tidwell said she didn’t consider herself an avid cyclist, her desire to make a difference made biking across the country seem possible.

“I rode my bike to class a lot, but beyond that, I really didn’t (bicycle a lot),” she said. “I was always a runner. I did track in high school, but bicycling was always something I wanted to get better at and more into, so this was a great way for me to also glide into that.”

Tidwell, who was accepted into the program in December, recently bought a new bicycle and will have completed 500 miles of training on it before she leaves.

The trip ends in San Diego on July 21, but Tidwell plans to leave the program before reaching California so she can return in time for medical school courses, which begin July 18.

“I didn’t even know about how important this issue was until I was a part of Bike and Build,” she said. “I hope I can come back and help other people learn about it at USF.”

Teresa Rudd wasn’t sure whether she wanted to attend NYU, but logging on to Facebook helped make her decision a little bit easier.

“Social media helped attract me to NYU a little because talking to other people who were applying or people who were already at NYU made me more sure that it was where I wanted to go,” the incoming Steinhardt freshman said.

Though she said that she ultimately made her decision after visiting the campus, using social media was helpful for her.

Rudd is one of many students turning to universities’ social media sites to help make their college decisions, and it might not be a coincidence.

According to a recent Schools.com survey of admissions officers from several top universities, 70 percent of college admissions offices listed Facebook as a high or medium priority recruiting channel, followed closely by Twitter, which is a priority for 56 percent of schools.

NYU is among the schools going online to attract students.

“NYU’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions has, in fact, increased its use of social media, primarily using Facebook as a vehicle to communicate with both prospective and admitted students,” NYU Vice President of Admissions Shawn Abbott said. “Admitted students, for example, make heavy use of the Class of 2015 profile on Facebook, which serves as a forum for students to learn more about admitted student events, housing and life at NYU.”

Many students are also using sites like College Confidential to talk with other students applying to schools they are looking at.

“Facebook groups and sites such as Collegeconfidential.com help people get a sense of the community and people that go to NYU and ask specific questions that can be answered frankly, honestly and quickly,” Laura Butvinik, an incoming Tisch freshman, said.

Others, however, are trying to use social media to help their admissions chances. Kemet Dugue, one of this year’s successful applicants, sent college admissions officers links to his blog posts.

“Even though I can’t say it directly improved my chances of getting into NYU, I know it put myself in a different perspective as an applicant,” he said. “Used in the correct way, social media can help in the admissions process.”

But just as easily as a student can access immediate information about a university, an admissions officer can do the same. According to the same Kaplan survey, one in 10 admissions officers said they visited an applicant’s social networking site. Abbott said NYU will only do this if they are given reason to do so.

“Though we certainly have better uses of our time than trolling Facebook for evidence of deviant behavior, if we’re prompted to look at a website posting and what we find is in conflict with our standards for admission, of course we may be influenced by that information in making admission decisions or revoking decisions already made,” he said.

Abbott cited situations in which “evidence of illegal activity, academic integrity violations and racist commentary” would prompt a revoked admissions offer. According to the Kaplan survey, 38 percent of admissions officers surveyed said applicants’ social networking sites had a negative impact on their admissions evaluation.

But Sunny Lee, an incoming freshman from Seoul, Korea, who is preparing for her college experience in a new country, has found Facebook to be a helpful resource.

“I found it really helpful and effective how prospective students were communicating with each other and discussing college issues,” she said. “[It lets me] keep updated with everything and make new friends.”

Apple Inc. has recently come under fire for allegedly tracking the location of its iPad and iPhone users in secret. The controversy surrounding the issue has caught the attention of German privacy watchdogs, the Korea Communications Commission, the Taipei City government, American lawmakers and Apple users worldwide.

According to an April 20 post on computer technology blog O’Reilly Radar, which originally leaked the story, time-stamped longitude and latitude coordinates are constantly being stored in a file on the devices themselves. The files then automatically sync with any computer to which they are connected. Because the files are unprotected, they can be viewedby anyone with access to the devices or to any computer with which the devices has ever been synced.

As the reason for Apple’s tracking efforts remains unclear, technology bloggers and journalists have speculated that CEO Steve Jobs plans to sell the information to advertisers. However, it is not yet clear whether any data is being sent back to Apple.

In response to the growing controversy, Jobs issued a statement Monday denying that Apple tracks users for purposes other than gathering geographical information for providing location services. However, the allegations stand that the iPhone continues to track locations even when users choose to turn off the function.

Jobs said many mobile phone companies engage in similar tracking and that the practice is actually quite common, but some Northwestern students are skeptical of Apple’s ethics.

“I don’t think they should be tracking people,” Weinberg junior Matt Keith said. “If a device or phone does, they should let people know a lot sooner than it getting leaked.”

One consequence Apple must face in the wake of the tracking issue is compromised customer trust. Weinberg sophomore Jesse Yuan, who used to have an iPhone, said Apple’s lack of transparency shows disrespect for its customers.

“I still think their products are high quality,” Yuan said. “I do think that as the company gets bigger, they don’t value customer privacy as much as they did before.”

Still, other students are undisturbed by rumors that Apple may be tracking their locations for a profit. Weinberg freshman Katherine Barnes said she’d rather give Jobs the benefit of the doubt.

“I guess it’s a little weird, but I don’t really care,” Barnes said. “I feel they wouldn’t really use it for anything negative.”

Medill freshman Megan Neunan , who owns a Mac laptop as well as an iPhone, iPod and iPad, said she’d rather not worry about it.

“It’s definitely not on the radar of my concerns,” Neunan said. “I really think it’s just a lot of hype. The company’s too big. They’ll deal with it. They wouldn’t let this turn into too big of an issue.”

A collection of telescopes that UC Berkeley researchers used to survey interstellar skies for star explosions and alien activity has been shut down due to lack of funding.

The 42 radio telescopes in the Allen Telescope Array – located northeast of Berkeley near Redding, Calif. – are run jointly through the SETI Institute and the UC Berkeley Radio Astronomy Laboratory and were used to scan the skies for alien signals for the last time April 15 when funding sources ran dry, according to a letter sent to donors Monday from SETI Institute CEO Tom Pierson.

The 14 UC Berkeley faculty, post-doctoral students and graduate students involved with the research said the timing to suspend research could not have been worse.

“We’ve been conducting research projects that study the variant sky with the Array,” said Geoffrey Bower, assistant professor of astronomy and director of the Radio Astronomy Laboratory, which runs the day-to-day operations of the array. “Those projects are suspended, and we are focusing on producing results from projects and less on the collection of data.”

Jill Tarter, director of the SETI Institute, said scientists at the institute planned to spend the next two years listening for artificial signals from newly discovered planets.

While funds from private donors such as the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation allowed the institute to raise the $50 million necessary to set up the telescopes, the lab received much of its funding from the National Science Foundation to listen for explosions, eruptions and magnified stars in the transient sky. The institute, meanwhile, received the majority of its funding from private donors.

Although its primary source of funding was the National Science Foundation, the lab is looking for other funding sources, including the United States Air Force and the United States Naval Observatory, Bower said.

According to Tarter, it costs about $1.5 million per year to maintain and repair the telescopes and another $1 million per year to fund the research that SETI and UC Berkeley researchers carry out.

As of April 15, the telescopes have been put in a “hibernation” state, meaning radio antennas on the telescopes have been turned off, but a minimal staff is still stationed at the site to keep the technology safe, Tarter said.

“We are still spending money on the telescopes, but the costs are much reduced,” she said.

Currently, there are no plans to dismantle the telescopes, although Bower said the situation has not been assessed very far.

“We are at a stage where we are evaluating what the future holds,” Bower said. “There is no guarantee that the array will continue, but we are looking at other funding sources and what the long-term (value) is.”

Leo Blitz, a UC Berkeley professor of astronomy who was director of the Radio Astronomy Laboratory when the array was just being established, said unless an outside party can be recruited to operate the telescopes, the lab has no immediate plans to restart the telescopes.

Tarter said both the institute and the astronomers will continue aspects of their research using other telescopes that the lab operates, as well as other national telescopes. She added that the array was unique in that it allowed UC Berkeley astronomers to study galaxies that changed over time while also allowing institute scientists to listen for engineered signals from the bodies that the astronomers were studying.

“We didn’t build the telescopes to turn them off,” Tarter said.

I believe that many would agree that violence against women (VAW) is wrong. Many would be outraged to see their sister, mother, friend or daughter suffer the trauma of rape. The big question at Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s isn’t whether or not violence against women is wrong, but what is the appropriate way to deal with and prevent it. I would dare to say that women who have been raped on either campus are not penalized for it; rather we question whether the rapists are penalized sufficiently for their crime.

Violence against women is a huge issue on college campuses and it seems that it too frequently appears in the news surrounding Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s. But across the globe woman face a bigger fear than even being raped: Women fear being raped and being punished for it. This form of oppression cannot be tolerated and should most definitely not be tolerated by college students who understand the fear of (sexual) violence but rely (and can count) on a supportive campus community instead of further penalization for being assaulted.

Just recently Nicholas Kristof covered a piece about a Bangladeshi girl who was murdered for being raped. An older relative was raping the girl in her town when the rapist’s wife discovered them. The wife reported Hena (the 14 year old Bangladeshi girl) to her local mosque and the local imam found Hena guilty of adultery. A makeshift religious court in the small town sentenced Hena to 100 lashings for “adultery.” Hena collapsed after 70 lashings and was taken to the hospital. She died a week later. According to some it was due to her excessive blood loss. The doctors recorded her death as a suicide. Kristof notes in his article that many Bangladeshi woman and girls are expected to commit suicide after being raped.

Clearly rape is not just. College students, the Bangladeshi government and the United Nations (UN) can all agree on this fact. The UN in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi government agree that equality should be maintained for men and women. Unfortunately, the official stance of the national government is not upheld in the communities. The local (religious) governments tend to ignore violence against women by justifying the cause or by reframing the situation. For example, domestic violence is called domestic dispute and is not recognized as a crime in Bangladesh. The UN has found that Bangladesh is currently one of the most violent countries and cites domestic violence as one of the leading causes of violence in the country.

That being said, the local Bangladeshi government has put Hena’s family under police protection (from members of the community who are angry with the family for reporting Hena’s death to the government) and has ordered an autopsy of Hena’s body. In addition, the Bangladesh press has reported on the issue, the Bangladesh civil society has shown extreme outrage about this case, lawsuits are underway against the doctors who proclaimed her death a suicide and according to Kristof, the alleged rapist and others involved in the case of Hena’s death are not being ignored.

It is important to understand when considering the implications of Hena’s death that although the government officials have taken action against her murder, the overall religious and cultural tone of Bangladesh allows for similar occurrences. As I have already mentioned, the Bangladesh government does maintain that men and women are equal, but it would seem (in these smaller communities at least) that the government’s policy on VAW issues is not the first code of conduct for many Bangladeshis. Kirk and Okazawa-Rey (2010 p. 266) have found that the cultural legitimization of male violence is not only influenced by law but by religion, education, popular culture, media, aggressive sports toys and games.

Changing public policy may not be enough to stop violence against women in Bangladesh. Activists may need to address other important aspects of male violence such as religion, education and media. It is apparent that for those involved in Hena’s death that public policy was not their first concern. Rather, the opinion of the imam was considered, respected and fulfilled. A girl died because religion mandated her death even though the mandate was contrary to public policy.

The harsh reality and complexity of this case paints a portrait of what violence against women (VAW) looks like on a global scale. It is true that even though the religious and cultural atmosphere of smaller towns in Bangladesh allow for women to be punished for being raped, there are many Bangladeshi activists who do not support punishing women for a rapist’s crime. The global portrait of VAW has rich tones of oppression, pain and opposition, but mostly silence. Women are not given a voice. Women are not given the right to testify or seek legal aid within (Islamic) Shari’a law.

Muslim law is called Shari’a and translates to “the path leading to water,” meaning the way to live. Shari’a law has its own legal system in which women are not required to have legal representation. Shari’a is interpreted differently across the globe and tends to be viewed negatively in the West. I do not believe that Shari’a is inherently wrong, but it should not be ignored that women are underrepresented in Shari’a law and have been stoned for simply being in the company of a man that is not part of the immediate family.

In 1996 a woman was sentenced to death for being alone with a man. Because women are not guaranteed representation in Shari’a law, she had little opportunity to defend herself against the court. Hena’s case is disconcerting but it is not the first case of rape in which the victim has been put to death. Because Shari’a does not tolerate adultery, many times the woman is put to death for being alone with a man or for having any sexual activity with a man — even if it was rape.

The problem of Hena’s rape is more complicated than poor public policy — it is a problem of strict religious policy that overrides good public policy. Hena died because religious policy is respected more than the good public Bangladeshi policy that respects the equality of men and women and does not tolerate rape.

It is important for students on this campus to understand the implications of Hena’s death in order to understand, sympathize with and stand against the global oppression of women. Here at Saint Mary’s and Notre Dame we understand that rape is never the victim’s fault, but women in other parts of the world do not have that luxury. Women fear penalization for victimization. Hena’s rape and subsequent death are unjust and do not follow her country’s constitution. It is good, as Kristof pointed out, that her death has aroused a public opposed to her punishment for being raped, but it is important that this case is not repeated in Bangladesh or any country where Shari’a is respected more than public policy.

What we can hope for is that Bangladesh will improve their public policy so that religious policy that allows for the killing of innocent victims will become illegal. Let us stand in solidarity with the women across the globe that fear more than rape: rape and a subsequent death sentence.

A bill passed by the state House of Representatives could keep Oregon’s high school students from obtaining diplomas unless they can demonstrate a clear intention to seek future education or job opportunities.

House Bill 2732, which garnered House approval Monday, requires high school students to show proof of application to college, the U.S. armed forces or into an apprenticeship program in order to be eligible for a diploma.

Rep. Tobias Read (D-Beaverton), the bill’s author, said this piece of legislation could improve the employability of Oregonians by encouraging students to consider the career opportunities available to them at a critical transition point in their education.

“This bill does not intend to tell anyone what the right choice is for them. It merely seeks to prompt consideration of that question,” Read said on the House floor. “Think about the student who intends to work in the family business. Wouldn’t he likely benefit from some accounting or bookkeeping classes at the community college?”

Although the bill passed 33 to 26 with the support of one-third of Republicans and two-thirds of Democrats, many legislators raised concerns over the new requirements.

For Rep. Mike Schaufler (D-Happy Valley), the bill failed to adequately address the issue of Oregon’s unemployment. Schaufler said making an incentive for manual labor and higher education for Oregon’s high school students will instead take actual investment in state infrastructure — building bridges, roads and zoning land for industry.

“Let’s get down to business getting people to work by passing real legislation which puts people to work, which we’re not doing,” Schaufler said.

Additionally, the Schaufler argued against placing any barriers between high school students and the diplomas they should be receiving.

“Why should my daughter have to fill out some application to get a degree she already earned?” Schaufler asked. “This is one more hoop we’re making people jump through to get what they deserve.”

Rep. Julie Parrish (R-Tualatin/West Linn) agreed and added that placing any additional mandates on Oregon’s already cash-strapped high schools was unwise.

“I can’t support this bill,” Parrish said. “I think it provides an unnecessary hardship on a child potentially, as well as on school districts that can’t afford this from us right now.”

In support of the bill, Rep. Peter Buckley (D-Ashland) pointed out that Oregon’s high schools weren’t doing enough to prepare its students for the current job market. He shared a story of his visit to a local high school several years ago, where he surveyed 28 advanced placement students regarding their intentions to enter college.

“25 out of 28 AP students weren’t applying for college … my heart broke at that point,” Buckley said. “This bill is a common sense bill … it will give (students) a push to fill out that application and say ‘What’s next for me?'”

The bill does not apply to modified diplomas, extended diplomas or GEDs. Students would also be allowed to attend an orientation session for a training or apprenticeship program instead of providing proof of application to a postsecondary institution.

Though the bill did not specify a mechanism to track students, individual school districts would be charged with its enforcement.

HB 2732 now moves to the Oregon Senate for consideration and vote.

A small group of women, clad in dark garments draped over their frames, stood outside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Armed only with their voices, they stood together to protest a new French law banning their enshrouding attire. Some of their faces were completely hidden. For others, the only visible body part was their eyes.

Earlier this month, France introduced a ban on full-face veils that forbids Muslim women from wearing the burqa, which conceals the whole body including the face, and the niqab, which conceals all but the eyes.

However, the ban did not come without a fuss. Many of the Muslim women affected by the ban believe this law impinged on their freedoms of religion.

Days after France’s full-face veil ban, a group of Muslim women at Ohio State gathered to share their feelings on a type of traditional Muslim head scarf that many of them wore — the hijab. In contrast to the burqa and niqab, the hijab allows for the face to remain uncovered.

Maria Ahmad, a third-year in speech and hearing sciences and the Muslim Student Association president, said wearing a hijab to “cover your hair, ears and neck is a minimum requirement,” and Ahmad considers this to be “an order from God.”

Dr. Asma Mobin-Uddin, an OSU alumna, pediatrician and children’s book author on the Muslim-American experience, said the hijab is the head scarf, but to be a hijabi, a woman must “cover herself and dress modestly.” Ahmad and Mobin-Uddin made a personal choice to wear the hijab.

Imaan Ali, a recent graduate in international studies and political science, also chose to wear the hijab, although initially “she was pressurized not to wear it.” Now, she blogs on hijab fashion to express her thoughts on “being a Muslim woman in a more positive way.”

Ayat Aldoori, a third-year in French and nutrition, said the hijab “is obligatory.” But Aldoori said her father believed the hijab “is because of the Arab tradition, but it is not necessary.”

Aldoori’s father told her wearing the hijab was her choice, but he doesn’t want her “to be hurt or discriminated against” while wearing it.

“All Muslims — all people — are at different points in their faith … inshallah (God willing), I’ll keep praying and maybe one day (the hijab) will be part of me being a Muslim,” said Aliah Hasan, a first-year in political science who does not wear the hijab.

Commenting on the Muslim full-face veil ban, Ahmad said about “2,000 women” in France wear the burqa or niqab.

“Covering the face is not actually commanded by the Quran,” Ahmad said.

Mobin-Uddin said there is a cultural component to wearing the burqa over the hijab.

“But for the small number of women and families that think that the face veil is obligatory, my argument is more that the women have the right to decide,” Mobin-Uddin said. “The state should not make the decision.”

French authorities claim this ban is partially due to security and identification issues.

“(This is) not a valid reason,” Ahmad said. “For security, no one minds taking off the hijab.”

Mobin-Uddin agreed and said there were ways to get around the ban.

“Of all the people who have robbed banks in France in the last 10 years, how many are Muslim women? Should we ban burqas or ski masks? The evidence and the facts do not prove any great safety threat,” Mobin-Uddin said.

According to BBC, offenders of the face veil ban will be made to take a citizenship course and pay a fine of 150 euros, or about $219. Masks worn in traditional activities like carnivals or religious processions are exceptions to the band.

Ahmad said a lack of communication between Muslims and non-Muslims adds to the problem.

“People assume that everyone who wears the hijab and the burqa are forced to wear it,” Ahmad said. “I don’t know of one person who was forced to wear it, ever. The assumptions complicate things. People assume but don’t ask. It’s the job of Muslims and non-Muslims to fight Islamophobia. If you don’t know something you’ll have a fear of it. (As a Muslim), have dialogue and be willing to answer questions; (As a non-Muslim), step out of your comfort zone, ask the questions.”

Journalist and author Bob Woodward shared his thoughts and experiences on issues central to the American presidency in this semester’s Richard E. Snyder’s Presidential Lecture yesterday afternoon.

In front of a fully packed Cohen Auditorium that included Snyder (A ’55) and University President Lawrence Bacow, Woodward recounted his experiences investigating high−profile stories in Washington and interviewing American presidents and other top figures throughout his career.

The journalist kept his own remarks short in order to make room for an extended question−and−answer session with the audience, pairing sobering commentary on serious political issues with humorous anecdotes about famous Washington personalities.

Woodward rose to national prominence for his coverage, alongside fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. Since then, he has gone on to author a multitude of books on the American presidency.

Woodward told the audience that his biggest concern today is “secret government,” the concentration of power in the hands of the executive branch and the military and intelligence communities that he called “breathtaking.”

“Democracies die in darkness, and … if there’s no accountability, then we’re finished,” Woodward said. The Nixon presidency and Watergate scandal were symptomatic of this mentality, as the president committed abuses of power and ordered a cover−up.

“The tragedy of that ultimate secret government … [was that] no one ever said, ‘What would be good for the country? What does the country need?” Woodward said.

“The nightmare of the Nixon presidency is its smallness — it became disconnected from the basic function of the job,” he added.

Woodward spoke about the challenges and responsibilities journalists face in getting around the powerful “message machine” that controls the public face of many political figures, including presidents. He estimated that the public knowledge of most presidential administrations is only a tiny fraction of the complete picture — “one percent,” by former Vice President Al Gore’s calculations, according to Woodward.

“This is the problem for journalists … to develop a method so you can get around the public relations face that is put on, particularly by the White House,” Woodward said.

There can be a separation between public conventional wisdom and the reality of a situation, Woodward told the audience. He offered then−President Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon, which has long been considered suspect for its timing after the Watergate scandal, as an example.

Woodward said he had long considered the pardon to have less than noble motivations. But an extensive investigation into the matter, including an interview with Ford, brought him to the opposite conclusion: that Ford made his decision in the nation’s, not Nixon’s, best interest.

“As I thought about it, and sifted the data, talked to everyone else involved, I realized that I had it wrong,” he said. “What he did was gutsy.

“What a cold shower to think something is this way, and to subject it to neutral scrutiny … and discover that it’s exactly the opposite,” he added.

Woodward emphasized that this realization was the product of a slow and deliberate journalistic process that he contrasted with the “speed and impatience” of the contemporary news cycle.

Woodward discussed the extent to which journalists, like the political figures they cover, can never fully understand the full consequences of their actions and their legacies.

“You don’t know what a lot of this is going to mean,” Woodward said. “You’re taking a snapshot — you don’t know the outcome.”

Woodward added that former President George W. Bush had once commented to him, about his own legacy, “History — we don’t know, we’ll all be dead.”

“There’s something utterly true about that — you don’t know how it’s going to be viewed in history,” Woodward said.

After his remarks, Woodward took questions from the audience that ranged from President Barack Obama’s handling of the current situation in Libya to the media’s role as a watchdog and investigator.

Woodward also credited Snyder, who was executive vice president of publishing house Simon and Schuster when the company bought Woodward’s “All the President’s Men” in 1972, for allowing him the creative freedom to pursue investigative stories throughout his career. Simon and Schuster has since published all 16 of Woodward’s books, he said.

In his introductory remarks, Bacow said his successor, President−elect Anthony Monaco, will continue the Snyder Lecture series. The next lecture, to take place in the fall, will feature Niall Ferguson, a professor of history and business administration at Harvard University, Bacow said.