MUG regimen and less than optimal cultural and scholastic preparation and poor pre-selection criteria of Arab students by Arab countries and Cultural differences and misunderstanding in the host country lead to departure of Arab students - my notes
Muslim Cadets at SUNY Maritime, Who Complained of Bias, Decide to Leave Campus
By C.J. CHIVERS As reported by NY Times
Twenty-one Muslim cadets from the Middle East, who said they were harassed and even beaten by their classmates at the State University of New York Maritime College, left the college and moved to a hotel on Friday night. The students had refused to attend class since Tuesday.
The departure of the Muslim freshmen, and the dispiriting circumstances surrounding it, sent ripples of introspection through the barracks under the Throgs Neck Bridge in the Bronx.
Cadets at Maritime train for careers in the shipping industry in a four-year program that resembles that of the U.S. Naval Academy. Set against a tidal passage and within a pre-Civil War shore battery, the college is rooted in nautical tradition, with cadets sporting crew cuts and khaki
uniforms.
But the structured routine was disrupted on Tuesday when the Muslim freshmen announced that they were quitting the college, saying they had been abused and even beaten by classmates after being repeatedly subjected to insulting remarks about their religion and limited English skills.
One cadet, Abdullah al-Shammari, 24, of Saudi Arabia, said he was attacked the day before the announcement by a classmate who wore a ski mask. The attack was the second reported in two weeks. In the first report, on Sept. 13, two Muslim cadets said five assailants beat them in their darkened bedroom.
None of the cadets were injured seriously, and the college has vowed to expel any cadets involved. A campus police investigation is continuing, and the office of the chancellor of the State University, John W. Ryan, is
reviewing the case. Adm. David C. Brown, the college president, said the reviews to date had found no indication the incidents were intended as hazing, which the college prohibits.
But the Middle Eastern students said they believed that their ethnicity made them targets. Many of the Americans were baffled, and wondered aloud if the Arab students had been adequately prepared for the school.
Others said they were sad to see their foreign peers quit. Midshipman Ryan Kenna, 18, a freshman, said he had befriended some of the Middle Eastern cadets and would miss them for reasons both personal and professional.
"The Middle East is such a big shipping point, it would only benefit us to learn from them now, instead of us going out into the industry and having such a big culture shock," he said.
When the Middle Eastern cadets arrived in the Bronx last winter, they were enthusiastic. They hailed from four Arab nations, and all their expenses were underwritten by United Arab Shipping Co., a Kuwait-based concern that was grooming them for management positions in the national shipping line of the Arabian Gulf.
Moreover, since 1995 the college had trained two dozen Saudi naval cadets. The Saudis had familiarized the college with Muslim holidays and daily cycles of prayer, and maintained a mosque in the barracks.
Watching the Saudis graduate, the new cadets anticipated a smooth stay in America.
"When we first arrived, we loved it so much," said Homood al-Tawari, 23, of Kuwait. "Everybody was friendly. Everybody was so polite."
But after spending seven months polishing their English, the Muslims soured to their college in August when they began indoctrination in the regiment of 680 cadets.
First they struggled as lowly "midshipmen under guidance," or "mugs."
Many lagged in their studies, having trouble mastering mathematics and engineering in a second language while meeting cadet duties.
They said their frustrations mushroomed after the attacks.
Arab students are not familiar and don't know how to cope with American College Culture - my notes
Midshipman David Giancarli, 24, a senior, said he was disturbed by the allegations of violence. But he said he had seen no instances of unfair treatment based on ethnicity or religion. "When you are an underclassman, you get picked on," he said. "I was picked on because I
was fat, and I took it for a whole year."
Arab MUGS - MIDSHIPMEN UNDER GUIDANCE - NOT USED TO SPARTAN LIFE . MY NOTES
Freshman year at Maritime College is certainly not for everyone. Mugs live in dormitory-style barracks that are a study in Spartan simplicity.
They must jog to and from class and have few privileges. They are not allowed to outfit their rooms with posters, radios, televisions or fans.
Visitors leave, and lights go out, at 11 p.m.
Light my cigarette or pay the price - my notes
Further, the quadrangles bustle with upperclassmen who enforce myriad rules. Older cadets can require mugs to light their cigarettes on demand.
To be ready, mugs carry books of matches in plastic bags.
Arab Students can't take the MUG regimen . Who said that MUG regimen is a pampered life?- my notes
The Muslim cadets acknowledge that the mug regimen influenced their decision to resign. "We are not like students here," said one of the cadets
who said he was assaulted, Faisal Ahmad, 24, of Kuwait. "We are like hostages."
Capt. Robert J. Weaver, commandant of cadets, said he had received no official reports of discrimination. But he did not directly dispute the cadets' accounts. "I could never say that didn't happen, because with more than 600 people, you could have one person do something stupid," he said.
Try pronouncing the tongue twisters, forget about the spelling - NAMES East of UK -- like Zbignew Bruzenzsky - my notes
American cadets said some of the complaints were a misunderstanding. "If you mispronounce their names, to them it is a big insult," said Midshipman Edward Leight, 20. "But sometimes it's a hard name to pronounce, and you just get it wrong."
After the resignations, the college allowed the Muslim students to remain in the barracks and to confer among themselves and their shipping company managers in Kuwait before their decision to move out.
At the state level, representatives from the State University chancellor's office last week reviewed records and conducted interviews related to the complaints. Jon Sorensen, the chancellor's spokesman, said the preliminary review found the college "had not been lording over these
kids in any inappropriate way" and that campus safeguards were adequate.
Other than moving the cadets off site, the United Arab Shipping Co. had not decided how to handle the complaints. Two company agents who visited the college on Thursday declined to comment.
The college said the majority of Muslim students appeared to be following a few of their most dissatisfied peers, and the cadets maintained a united stance. Prior to their departure they made their sentiments clear:
"We are like one hand, we are like brothers," said Wajdi al-Hawar, 20, of Saudi Arabia. "If we are going to leave, we will leave together." |
