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Afghan Journalists
Here we have a prize example of professorial arrogance, stupidity,
contentiousness, anti-anticommunism and intellectual gerrymandering.
I'll put the justifications of these characterizations after the
article itself.  Stanford faculty would be capable of the same,
but the Stanford Administration hasn't the courage or principles
of John Silber.

a207  1154  21 Aug 86
AM-Afghan Journalists, Bjt,0823
Boston University To Train Afghan Refugees near Conflict
By CAROLYN LUMSDEN
Associated Press Writer
    BOSTON (AP) - Boston University's agreement to train Afghan refugees
as journalists so they can spread the word of the Soviet invasion
that drove them from their country has sparked a fierce debate that
already has cost the school two deans.
    To Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey, R-N.H., who sponsored the bill
allocating the money for the program, it's a simple plan: ''If we
train freedom fighters in the use of cameras to bring out footage,
that might help raise international public outrage. It's propaganda
in the best sense of the word.''
    But 10 faculty members at the 1,800-student College of Communication
say academic standards would be compromised from the start because
the refugees will be trained in Pakistan, near the border of the
conflict, rather than at the school.
    ''The gravest risk,'' they said in a November letter to Provost Jon
Westling, ''is that the program would be seen by the outside world
and by the American academic community as not an educational
enterprise at all but as a venture in propaganda and
counterintelligence.''
    The university hopes to train up to 30 refugees in Peshawar with a
$180,364 grant from the U.S. Information Agency. King Features
Syndicate will distribute the refugees' work with a $309,696 grant.
    In two six-week sessions starting as early as September, the
refugees will be taught to use television cameras and other tools to
report the war in the closed country occupied by 115,000 Soviet
troops. Since the troops entered in 1979 to support the Marxist
government against Moslem insurgents, 3 million refugees have crossed
into Pakistan.
    Afghanistan's charge d'affaires, Rohullah Erfaqui, said the program
will interfere in his country's internal affairs and violate
international law.
    H. Joachim Maitre, an East German defector who spearheaded the
project, said the refugees will bring back news that only the most
intrepid of Western journalists cover.
    Maitre, a MiG pilot trainee before his defection in 1953, will
select students from among candidates chosen by Islamic Unity, a
coalition of anti-communist Afghan tribes in exile.
    Faculty members said in their letter that proper training
''certainly cannot be nurtured in the turmoil of a refugee center
awash with secret agents, rival political factions and intense
emotions.''
    The college submitted a proposal to train the refugees in Boston,
but USIA spokeswoman Lesley Vossem said the agency preferred the
university plan because ''the cultural adjustment might interfere
with the refugees' training.''
    The communications college dean, Bernard S. Redmont, quit in July
after refusing to give the university plan his backing and after
demoting an associate dean for working on the program without
Redmont's approval.
    Redmont was named dean emeritus and assigned to spend the fall in
London supervising a college internship program. He declined comment.
    Maitre was named interim dean by President John Silber on Aug. 12,
after his return from a two-week fact-finding trip in Peshawar.
    One faculty member said few dared risk their jobs by speaking openly
against the program.
    Faculty members who spoke on condition they not be identified said
Maitre has written articles for the defense magazine Strategic Review
and that its publisher, Arthur Metcalf, is a university trustee who
shares the conservative political views of Maitre and Silber.
    ''In the past, Dr. Metcalf has never interfered in my work,'' Maitre
said. ''I'm a working journalist and want to stay a working
journalist.''
    Professors said the project has divided the college's 45 faculty
members over the proper role of reporters and schools that train
them.
    ''I think of journalism as the practice of inquiring about and
describing the world, but there are people who bring more of a sense
of mission to journalism,'' said Bernice Buresh, an associate
professor and former Boston bureau chief for Newsweek. ''They talk
about it as a tool for defending the American way of life.''
    Other professors pointed out at faculty meetings that such
journalists as the late Edward R. Murrow have worked for the USIA and
that the college also trains students in publicity and advertising.
    ''This government has a stake in developing a free press in foreign
countries,'' said Robert Lewis, president of the Society for
Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. ''I can't see anything
inherently wrong about such grants with two provisions: that the
university has control of the contents of the educational program and
provided that it's all done aboveboard.''
    George A. Krimsky, executive director of the year-old Center for
Foreign Journalists in Reston, Va., said his organization declined to
apply for the USIA grant because of inexperience in training
reporters abroad.
    But Krimsky added, ''I guess it's fair to say we were queasy about
the partisanship implied in a program designed to train Afghan rebels
engaged in a military conflict in journalistic practices.''
    
AP-NY-08-21-86 1453EDT
***************

1. arrogance - because they want to prevent someone else from doing
something.

2. stupidity - because they don't recognize the difference between
the situation in Afghanistan and the U.S.  They don't recognize
the almost complete lack of any kind of reporting from the fighting
front in Afghanistan.

3. contentiousness - because the current flap is almost certainly
regarded by its participants as a continuation of guerrilla warfare
among the faculty with the President, John Silber.

4. anti-anti-communism - because without bothering to justify the Soviet
actions in Afghanistan, it somehow turns out that the most important part
of the left opposes every particular counteraction.

5. intellectual gerrymandering - because the issue isn't whether the
U.S. should train Afghans to report their war, but turns into a narrow
issue of how academic programs should be run.

su-etc
Afghan Journalists

Answers to MRC's points

1. I didn't take the protesters' claim of fear of reprisal seriously.
It's just part of the bombast.

2. I didn't say they didn't have a right to protest; I said their
protest was wrong in the ways I mentioned.

3. I am not pleased that the Soviets are mired in Afghanistan; it
kills too many people.

4. The people fighting for the freedom of their country in Afghanistan
happen to be Moslems.  They were not guilty of the kind of
massacres characteristic of Khomeini, so I don't think it is
a choice of evils.  Love for the U.S. is not a requirement in
my mind, but if we supply them with the wherewithal to shoot
down Soviet helicopters, a certain mild degree of affection
may be generated.

5. Joe Pallas doesn't understand what I meant by intellectual gerrymandering
- a term I confess having coined.  The concept is nicely illustrated
by the discussion so far.

The USIA, John Silber, J. H. Maitre and Abdul Kathlan and I imagine that
there is a problem of the Soviets killing people in Afghanistan and no-one
reporting it to the outside world.  A part of the problem is to be
attacked by equipping some Afghans with VCRs and teaching them how to use
them, since not many American reporters care to risk their lives in
Afghanistan.

The ten faculty protesters, MRC, J. Pallas, and Bill Poser see no such
problem; presumably a university should rise above any concern with how
many Afghans the Soviets kill.  The issue is simply whether the Afghan
journalist wouldn't be better educated in the spirit of American
journalism in Boston rather than in Peshawar where they might actually be
influenced by the plight of their fellows.

I called this redefining the problem to an issue of where academic
journalistic purity is best maintained "intellectual gerrymandering".

6. Now I'll spell out my accusation of arrogance.  Prof. J. H. Maitre,
perhaps foolishly remembering his experience in East Germany, proposes
to teach the Afghans some journalism in Peshawar.  The protesters
say he shouldn't be allowed to do that.  An analogy would be my
saying that the Knowledge Systems Laboratory shouldn't be allowed
to apply for Government grants, because they don't recognize that
mathematical logic is the proper tool for AI.

7. As for anti-anti-communism, I have to resort to ad hominem remarks.
The same people here object to this anti-communist activity as
have objected to other anti-communist measures - giving, of course,
different reasons in each case.  I presume, conceivably incorrectly,
the Boston University protesters are similarly motivated to past
Boston University protesters.  Alas, I'm now making an
anti-anti-anti-communist remark.

This isn't an adequate answer to Bill Poser's asking for specific
examples of previous leftist opposition to measures to aid the
Afghan resistance.  Certainly, there has been less leftist opposition
to aiding the Afghans than to aiding the Angolans.  However, I'll
look for more specifics.

8. I have nothing to add about contentiousness.

9. Finally, let's return to the problem perceived by the USIA, Silber,
Prof. Maitre, Abdul and myself - the under-reporting of the Soviet
war against the Afghans.  Do MRC, Pallas and Poser see this as a
problem at all.  If not, why not?  If yes, do they have a better way
of dealing with it than letting Prof. Maitre teach some Afghans
how to do it?
a035  0150  22 Aug 86
PM-Afghan Journalists,0626
Journalism Program To Train Afghan Refugees Stirs Controversy
By CAROLYN LUMSDEN
Associated Press Writer
    BOSTON (AP) - A debate over a Boston University program to teach
Afghan refugees how to spread the word about the Soviet invasion of
their country has cost the journalism school a dean and moved outside
the campus.
    ''A lot of people are concerned about the questions this program
raises of academic freedom, the integrity of that school and the
integrity of journalism and journalism education in general,'' Sharon
Murphy, president of the Association for Education in Journalism,
said Thursday.
    The university hopes to train up to 30 refugees in Pakistan to use
television cameras and other tools to report the war in their
country, occupied by 115,000 Soviet troops.
    ''If we train freedom fighters in the use of cameras to bring out
footage, that might help raise international public outrage. It's
propaganda in the best sense of the word,'' said Sen. Gordon J.
Humphrey, R-N.H., who sponsored a bill funding part of the program.
    But 10 faculty members at the 1,800-student College of Communication
said academic standards will be compromised because the refugees will
be trained in Peshawar, Pakistan, rather than at the school.
    ''The gravest risk,'' they said in a November letter to Provost Jon
Westling, ''is that the program would be seen ... as not an
educational enterprise at all but as a venture in propaganda and
counterintelligence.''
    Afghanistan's charge d'affaires, Rohullah Erfaqui, has said the
program would violate international law by interfering in its
internal affairs.
    But H. Joachim Maitre, an East German defector who started the
project, said the refugees would bring back news that few Western
journalists can cover.
    Maitre, a MiG pilot trainee before his 1953 defection, will select
students from candidates chosen by Islamic Unity, a coalition of
anti-communist Afghan tribes in exile. Three million refugees have
crossed into Pakistan since the 1979 Soviet invasion that supported
one Marxist faction against another.
    In two six-week sessions starting as early next month, refugees will
be trained with the help of a $180,364 grant from the U.S.
Information Agency. King Features Syndicate will distribute their
work with a $309,696 grant.
    Faculty members said in their letter that proper training
''certainly cannot be nurtured in the turmoil of a refugee center
awash with secret agents, rival political factions and intense
emotions.''
    The college submitted a separate proposal to train the refugees in
Boston, but USIA spokeswoman Lesley Vossem said the agency preferred
the university plan because ''the cultural adjustment might interfere
with the refugees' training.''
    The college dean, Bernard S. Redmont, quit in July after refusing to
back the university plan and demoting an associate dean, Ronald S.
Goldman, for working on the program without Redmont's approval.
    Redmont was named dean emeritus and assigned to spend the fall in
London supervising a college internship program.
    Redmont declined comment, but Ms. Murphy, who also is dean of the
College of Journalism at Marquette University, said, ''He took the
step most self-respecting deans would have to take: to resign to
oppose something that cuts to the heart of the integrity of the
unit.''
    Maitre was named interim dean on Aug. 12 after his return from a
two-week fact-finding trip in Peshawar, and said he has reinstated
Goldman as associate dean.
    Faculty sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said Maitre
shares the conservative political views of university President John
R. Silber and Trustees Chairman Arthur G.B. Metcalf, publisher of
Strategic Review, for which Maitre often writes.
    Professors said the Afghan project has divided the college's 45
faculty members over the proper role of reporters and schools that
train them.
    
AP-NY-08-22-86 0449EDT
***************