Volume XVYII, Issue 5
'hHe
Educating Women To Excel
September 29, 2004
ON THE
INSIDE:
E. lection
News
Page 2
Campus
News
Page 4
World
News
Page 4
Environment
News
Page 5
Meredith
Sports
Page 6
Campus
Opinion
Page 8
Meredith’s
Weekly Weather
Anne Garrels Speaks to Meredith Community
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
Panty Cloudy
High 75/ Uw 55
Mostly Suiuiy
High 77/Low 55
Mostly Simuy
High 79/ Low 57
Partly Cloudy
High 80/ Low 60
Partly Cloudy
High 77/ Low 58
Partly Cloudy
High 79/ Low 56
Mostly Sunny
High 76/ Low 55
PIPER PETROCELLI
Staff Writer
Meredith students had the
distinct pleasure of meet
ing the brave and eloquent
Anne Garrels, foreign cor
respondent for National
Public Radio, and author
of “Naked In Baghdad”.
Garrels addressed the
Meredith community on
Monday, September 28 at
6:30 in Jones Auditorium.
Her visit included inter
active discussions with
students and staff during
the day, an intensely mov
ing public lecture later in
the evening, followed by a
short question and answer
session regarding the war
in Iraq.
Garrels asserted
that the news in Iraq is not
good. Sadly, most Iraqis
blame the United States for
the turmoil in their country.
According to Ms. Garrels,
“Most Iraqis believe their
lives are worse now than
before the war”. The state
of flux in which the coun
try of Iraq now finds itself
is confusing at best. No
country likes being occu
pied and they want the US
to leave, but also knows
that things may. dissolve
into chaos once the US is
gone. Many feel that their
country has been turned into
a battleground for A1 Queda
and the US. Extremists are
heavily armed, and Ms.
Garrels described them
aptly as a “deadly hydra”.
The extremists are not so
much one centralized ter
rorist network as they are
united in one goal; to get
the US out of Iraq. Ms.
Garrels also revealed that
translators have been tar
geted. Extremists continue
to threaten the lives of indi
viduals and their families in
order to stop anyone from
working with Americans..
Despite the US declara
tion that our mission had
been accomplished more
than a year ago, extrem
ists are in complete con
trol of Fallujah. Reporters
can’t get in, nor can our US
Marines. Currently the US
controls only one road that
leads to that city.
Middle class Iraq
looks normal to the casual
observer. Children have
returned to school, but
mothers are no longer put
ting them on buses for fear
of their safety. Outside of
the cities in smaller villag
FTxjto (xule^ CoipomlKn 0/firoaobssthg
es, tumultuous conditions
in Iraq are exacerbated by
extremely high unemploy
ment. Aside from certain
areas, Iraqis often lack the
basic necessities such as
clean drinking water.
Ms. Garrels origi
nally went to Iraq in order to
follow the weapons inspec
tors searching for weapons
and associated development
programs. She discovered
the extraordinary stories of
ordinary Iraqi people. She
has seen a resurgence of
radical Islam. Whereas she
did not wear a scarf during
most of her visits before
the war, she now wears
one that hides all hair at
all times. She also noted
that women in Fallujah are
now covered head to toe. In
certain cultures this is done
as a show of devotion, but
in Iraq it has become a mat
ter of safety. Iraqi women
don’t want to go backwards
in regards to their personal
freedom. They would also
like to see all of their female
children attend school, and
marry later than the age of
13 or 14 years old, which
has become the norm for
poorer families.
Ms. Garrels plans
on returning to Iraq on
November 1st. HerNPRcol-
leagues Peter Kenyan and
Emily Harris are currently
reporting from Iraq. The cor
respondents and their fami
lies are well aware of the
dangers in Iraq, especially
kidnappings. Germany and
Spain have already urged
their reporters to leave.
Please join us for the Campaign Kickoff Celebration on Thursday, October 21st!
We are honored to have Silda Wall Spitzer ‘80, Executive Director of Children for Children Foundation of NYC, on
Meredith’s campus. Classes will be canceled during her keynote address, so please come to Jones Auditorium at 11 ;45 to
hear her speak. Lunch will be served in the Courtyard following the program.
SILDA A. WALL is President of Children for Children Foundation, a not-for-profit organization she co-founded in 1996,
which empowers young people to “Grow Involved” by volunteering their time and resources to benefit youth and others,
with a focus on providing critical materials and services to New York City schools in underserved communities. She has
a law degree from Harvard Law School (juris doctor 1984) and an undergraduate degree from Meredith College (summa
cum laude, December 1979) with double majors in English and history. She currently serves on the Horace Mann School
Board of Trustees and the Advisory Board ofNYCharities.org, is a member of the NY Blue Ribbon Commission on
Youth Leadership and is Co-chair of NYC’s annual Project Cicero book drive to build classroom libraries.
We are delighted to have her with us!
The event is free and since students are an integral part of the campaign we hope you will all be able to join us In
celebrating the campaign kickoff.
If you would like to join us for limch please RSVP by October 9th to the Office of Institutional Advancement by emailing
valiel@meredith.edu or calling 760-8374.