Volume XWII, Issue 19
Educating Women To Excel
March 2, 2005
ON THE
INSIDE;
Story
Tsunami
Page 2
Scale
Smashing
Page 3
Black
Emphasis
Month Events
Page 4
Letters to the
Editor
Page 6
Student
Responses to
Social Security
Forum
Page 7
Meredith hosts Dr. Azar Nafisi as part of
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Founders’ Day celebration
JENNA CHAMBERS
Staff Writer
Dr. Azar Nafisi, author
of the best-selling Read
ing Lolita in Tehran, served
as this year’s Founder’s
Day Convocation speak
er, addressing a capacity
crowd in Jones Auditorium
on Monday, February 28.
A refuge from the funda
mentalist Islamic govern
ment in Iran, Nafisi spoke of
the role of reading as a sub
versive strategy and empha
sized the power of imagina
tive literature to secxure the
best elements of one’s cul
tural heritage. She offered
updates on the students who
formed her private reading
circle in Tehran after her ex
pulsion from the university
there and described the op
pressive conditions in under
which women continue to
live: “They lowered the age
of marriage for women from
18 to 9, and temporary mar
riages are a man’s right. Tem
porary meaning for rent as
long as he wants; ten minutes
to 99 years if he chooses.”
Nafisi lost her teaching
position in Tehran when she
refused to wear the manda
tory veil. This restriction on
women continues to serve
as a symbol of oppression
for her. She notes, for in
stance, the weak logic and
negative reflection on men
that it evokes; “It is an in
sult on men, the way the
women are threatened. If
a man cannot handle see
ing a lock of hair on my
head, then perhaps that man
should not be on the streets.”
Nafisi noted the impact
of the Internet and the West
ern media upon the youth of
Iran. Although her book is
banned there and in China,
the banning seems to have in
creased interest. Friends tell
her it is often photocopied
and circulated. A young
Iranian woman attending
the lecture challenged her
supposed Western bias, and
she responded with concern.
Later she told a small group
that young adults often ar
gue that Iranians are free to
adopt Western behaviors,
such as drinking and wear-
photo courtesy of Jenna Chambers
Dr. Azar Nafisi spoke to a crowd of students and faculty
Monday in Jones Auditorium.,
ing makeup, and that they
simply agree to pay fines to
the police for the privilege.
This state of affairs clearly
troubled Nafisi, however, be
cause she hopes for a regime
that would not make such
duplicity necessary. Citing
a dislike for cliches, Nafisi
could not resist closing her
talk with one of her favorites:
“Readers of the world unite!”
Following the lecture and a
question-and-answer period,
Nafisi greeted members of
the Meredith community at
a reception and book-sign
ing in Johnson Hall. She is
a visiting fellow and profes
sional lecturer at the Foreign
Policy Institute of the Johns
Hopkins University’s School
of Advanced International
Studies, where she teaches
aesthetics, culture, and lit
erature. She has held a fel
lowship at Oxford Univer
sity and has lectured widely
following the publication of
Reading Lolita in Tehran.
Social security forum sparks debate at Meredith
PIPER PETROCELLI
Contributing Writer
Meredith College hosted
United States Congressmen
David Price and Brad Miller
for a social security town-
hall style forum Wednesday,
February 23. The Congress
men were invited by Dr. Al
len Page to speak to Mer
edith students about social
security legislation being
considered by the House and
in the Senate. The public was
also welcomed.
Congressman Price and
Congressman Miller voiced
opposition to the Bush ad
ministration’s plan to over
haul the country’s social
security system. Congress
man Miller reminded those
that attended that the aver
age benefit amount paid out
to someone collecting social
security is $11,000 a year.
The largest benefit anyone
receives is $23,000 a year.
Although these are not large
sums of money, for 1 out of
3 Americans it constitutes
90% of their income. For I
in 5 it constitutes 100% of
their income. He described
the system as remarkably ef
ficient. In 1983, before com
puters were widely used, ad
ministration costs of social
security were 1.7%. Now
that the system is so highly
computerized, the admin
istration costs are only 1%.
Miller referred to these costs
as “remarkably efficient”.
Miller expressed his con
cern for the Bush adminis
tration plan, and its lack of
sound economic analysis. He
is also opposed to taking the
current social security sys
tem with its 1% administra
tion costs, and turning it into
a “big, confusing, gangling
system” adding additional
costs by adding layers of big-
govemment bureaucracy. He
also discussed the status of
other countries that have tried
privatizing elements of their
social security plans such as
Great Britain and Chile. He
noted that Great Britain has
since abandoned their priva
tion plans, and Chile’s banks
are charging exorbitant fees
and skimming money in the
maintenance of private ac
counts.
continued on page 2