Meredith Herald
Volume XVII, Issue 26
Educating Vl/omen to Excel
April 11, 2001
On the
inside:
□ N’Awlins
attracts region
al scientists,
Meredith stu
dents
Page 2
O Congratu
late fellow stu
dents on acade
mic awards ^
Z'' .'\Page4'
□ Along Came
a Spider fright
ens reviewer
away
Page 8
Meredith Herald
at'. ■
Meredith College
3800 Hillsborough St
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 760-2824
FAX (919) 760-2869
maxweni@meredith.edu
New building breaks ground
□ Building
will be home of
math, science
departments
Christy Sadler
SlafI Writerr
On Monday afternoon,
Meredith took yet another
giant step forward into the
twenty-first century.
A targe crowd of students,
faculty, staff, alumni and
members of the community
gathered on the lawn of the
Alumnae House at 2;30 p.m.
to witness the groundbreak
ing ceremony for the new
Science and Mathematics
Building.
The 80,000 square foot
facility will be built on the
currem site of the Alumnae
House and will house the
departments of mathematics
and ccHTiputer science, biolo
gy and health sciences and
chemistry and physical sci-
ences-
Though the heat was stifling,
the atmosphere at the ceremo
ny was festive. Buttons and T-
shirts commemorating the
event were handed out to stu
dents as they airived.
The ceremony opened with a
welcome by Dr. Jeff Hockaday,
chairman of the Meredith
Board of Trustees. Hockaday
discussed the planning that
went into the facility and the
Dr. Maureen Hartford speaks to the crowd gathered at Mon
day's groundbreaking for the new math and science building.
Photo tr Tamesha Wiluams
many benefits that students and
teachers would reap from it.
Hockaday said that the facil
ity would “establish Meredith
College as a flagship institution
for women in maths and sci
ences” and “will forever
change the appearance of
Meredith.”
Hockaday’s welcome was
followed by remarks from E>r.
Hartford. Hartford focused'
on the important contribu
tions that various scientists
and mathematicians have
made to our society.
She stated that the oppor
tunities provided by the new
building will enable future
Meredith graduates to make
these same contributions and
“impact our world-in positive
ways.”
Hanford also promised.
“This building will ensure
Please see
GROUND
page two
Theologian explores women’s rights
CHEI5EA DESAhfnS
Slaff Wrilef
Dr. RifTat Hassan is “a
woman of courage and vision,”
said vice president for Acade
mic Affairs Dr. Rosalind
Reichard in her introduction of
the noted feminist theologian.
Hassan, Professor of Reli
gion and Humanities at the
University of Louisville, said
during Chapel on Wednesday,
Apr. 4 that “mutilation, burn
ing, hacking, shooting” all
sound like crimes that would
put you behind bars, unless you
live in Pakistan. Morocco,
Turkey, Jordan, Syria.
Her lecture was on "Vio
lence Against Women and
Religion.”
Hassan, founder of The
International Network for the
Rights of Female Victims of
Violence in Pakistan (INR-
FVVP), came to Meredith to
inform students of the violent
acts that are legal and
euphemistically described as
“honor killings” in these coun
tries.
“Honor killings,” Hassan
said, “have been going on for a
while yet only recently been
brought to attention by Interna
tional Rights Groups.”
A BBC program featuring
honor killings in Pakistan, Has-
salt's country of origin, sparked
outrage primarily in American
women and students from
South Asia. E-mails poured in
to Hassan, a commentator on
the program, from concerned
women around the gl(^ who
wanted to do something.
Hassan took that opportunity
to create the INRFVVP, an
organization that rapidly
became a movement.
Hassan began her career as a
theologian in 1974. analyzing
the Koranic texts to find “Mus
lim discrepancies in teaching
with the actual treatment of
women.” She wanted to chal
lenge the “patriarchal perspec
tive” of the Koran, which had
only been interpreted by men.
In her studies, she attributed
much of the mistreatment of
women much to a 1970s phe
nomenon called Islamization,
“an imposition of Islamic laws
on society.”
Women were the primary
focus of Islamization and the
secondary focus, punishment,
was most often applied to Mus
lim women.
Hassan spent two years in
Pakistan at the height of
Islamization. During this time,
a woman who was r^ied and
then got pregnant was held
accountable for a crime that
was committed against her
Because of a law stating that
the only admissible evidence in
a case such as this was the tes
timony of “four male believ
ers,” Hassan said, the woman
was sentenced to a punishment
of 100 lashes and prison time.
This show of “compassion”
was substituted for the typical
punishment of being stoned to
death. As a result, feminist
movements in Pakistan began.
Realizing the futility of get
ting an Islamic law retracted,
Hassan began a systematic
study of the Haddith, the tradi
tions of the prophet.
The Haddith, a secondary
text to the Koran, relies on the
creation story in which Adam
is God’s primary creation and
Eve is his secondary, taken
from Adam's rib. Eve is inferi
or to Adam and not to be trust
ed.
In the Koran, however. Has
san found that all 30 creation
passages describe a totally
egalitarian view of creation,
that is. man and woman created
at the same time, equally.
However, when Hassan
asked several Muslim women
how women were created, all
said “from the rib of Adam.”
Hassan was distressed that
Muslims were perpetuating a
view not even found in the
Koran. A statement in the
Koran, said Hassan, cannot be
superseded by the Haddith.
Please see
HASSAN
page (wo