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N EWS
Contact Abed Haddad, haddaag@millsaps.edu
Foreign students give world view of Millsaps By Tao Tang Contributor International students are rarely asked why they chose to attend Millsaps and what they like and dislike about the school. Eight international students from six different countries answered these questions. For the most part, generous financial aid attracts these students. All are on at least half tuition. “ I got offers from five schools and I decided to chose Millsaps because it has pretty high rankings accordingly to U.S News and World Report, and it gives me the biggest scholarship compared to other offers,” says Tung Hoang of Vietnam. The international community also likes that both Millsaps’ campus and classes are small. The students say the small campus makes them feel closely connected to people, and small classes offer them attention from professors. Luka Khakhnelidze, a freshmen from Georgia, says, “I like the small campus and classes of Millsaps. I can interact with professors in class discussion”.
Some international students comment that American students are friendly and willing to help, but for various reasons, they are difficult to become real friends with them. Serbian sophomore Misa Pjevac says, “the school is friendly in general but there are cliques that divide students”. A Chinese student, Kajia Zhou says, “I think American students are
nice to me. But, I sometimes feel lonely because not many American students seem interested in foreign cultures.” Cultural exchange can be educational and also help interna-
tional students become better understood. Kali, An international student from Beijing, reveals
“One of my American friend once told me that Asia had noth-
ing but comics,” he says. Yuan Fang, a senior international student from China, says, “ I sometimes find it difficult to communicate with a lot of A diverse group of American international students students. I at Millsaps speak out don’t think about their personal English is experiences and muthe probtual challenges. lem,” she explains. “We just have different topics that some students do not know for conversations.” much about foreign cultures. In addition to the challenges
of interacting with American students, some international students complain about the inconveniences of shopping. Most international students don’t have cars, so they depend on help from their friends and volunteers from Millsaps International Buddy System for transportation. Six of the eight international students worry that, despite the availability of help from MIBS and friends, their transportation requests might be annoying if they are made too often. Kailang Qi, a junior from China says that shopping is very inconvenient. “I don’t have a car for shopping but MIBS buddies are busy students, too. I don’t want to bother them too much.” Qi suggests a school-operated bus. “I want a school bus with regular shopping schedules for everyone,” he says. “The bus can operate once or twice a week for students and our shopping problem would be solved”. International students make up small part of Millsaps’ population (1 percent of the total enrollment). but this group of people might help U.S students to learn more of the differences and similarities of people from around the world.
Syria’s unclear future leads to escalated violence
By Abed Haddad News Editor
For more than 10months, the Syrian government has been under attack by the international community. Driven by the Arab Spring revolts in Tunisia and Yemen, Syrians took to the streets of Damascus and Homs in demonstration against the dictatorial regime of Bashar al-Assad. Al-Assad came into power with hopes for a progressive Syrian government. He inherited the position through a public election in 2000 from his father Hafez al-Assad, running unopposed both then and again in 2007. His father, Hafez al-Assad ruled for three decades with a notorious iron fist, even ordering massacres against his own people. Al-Assad took a similar approach to that of his father, ordering the killing of several thousand people. The United Nations stopped counting the number of deaths after it exceeded 5,400, with thousands more detained in holding cells
Contributed
Riots continue in Damascus as Al-Assad’s troops remain in the city.
around the country. Al-Assad’s government is no stranger to violence against its own people. His secret police routinely torture, jail, and murder political or civilian protestors, placing it on the Humans Rights Watch’s list. The Syrian government has long supported the groups Hamas and Hezbollah, two terrorist groups in Lebanon and Israel, which receive financial and political support from Syria and Iran. The
Syrian government was also accused by some members of the international community of the assassination of Rafik alHariri, two-time prime minister of Lebanon, and 21 others in an explosion that targeted alHariri’s motorcade. Perhaps what is most interesting about the staying power of the current Syrian government is al-Assad’s supporters, many of whom are elite Sunni business men and women. He even
established several security services made up to a large extent by Alawites. Al-Assad’s family belongs to the Alawites klan, a small but powerful sect that controls most of the Syrian government. Even Syria’s Arab partners showed some restraint when it came to dealing with al-Assad’s regieme. In a surprising move, The Arab League voted to impose heavy sanctions on Syria, only to vote again, expelling Syria from the League. While it was a move applauded by the international community, it was overturned by request of some countries, mainly Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The League then agreed to let Syria rejoin only if they let foreign monitoring satellites in the country, a move that failed after increased violence, including the assassinations of the secretary general of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Dr.Abd-alRazzaq Jbeiro, and a Christian priest, the Reverand Basilious Nasser. “The Syrian government failed to make any serious effort to co-
operate with us”, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar, tells the United Security Council. But in a surprising move on Jan 31, Russia reached a deal with Syria to start informal negotiations with the opposition. Russia has been known as a supporter of Syria, writing off 80 percent of its debt in exchange for weapons and artillery. The opposition has expressed no interest in talks so far until alAssad steps down, a position expressed by world diplomats who gathered at the United Nations to attempt a security council resolution to pressure al-Assad to leave office. In a country at the verge of civil war, the government in exile, the Syrian National Council, has threatened al-Assad’s government with retaliation. The future of Syria is unclear as of now, with no indication of any change, only increased violence and turmoil.