The Professor is going to Saudi Arabia today to teach a few classes at the King Abdullah University. We’ve been joking around for weeks about what will happen to him. He never predicted he’d be working in a place where a man can get caned for wearing shorts in front of a woman. Preparing for the trip went beyond deciding what to pack. He had to file for a travel visa, and while he may occasionally forget to claim a wad of Cuban cigars stuffed in his pocket, he doesn’t fudge government documents.
“I’m putting down my religion as Jewish,” he informed me.
“That’s good, better to play it safe.” As if everything about him doesn’t say “Jewish guy from New York.”
Then, as he was digging around for two-ounce plastic travel bottles this morning, he started tossing the good stuff out of his Dopp kit, like the expired Oxycodone he carries for kidney stone attacks. When I asked why he was worried about a few painkillers, he mumbled something about the kingdom’s Royal Order and hillbilly heroin. I wonder what the street word is for chardonnay?
Neither of us really worried about the trip but I did do a quick Google search just to check it out. Wow!
The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), funded with a $10 billion endowment from the king, is central to Saudi Arabia's effort to overhaul its system of higher education and become a global center of collaborative science and technology research. The university is home to "Shaheen" -- the world's 14th fastest computer, a six-sided virtual reality facility, 10 advanced nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, a coastal and marine resources laboratory and bioengineering facilities with labs for studying cell molecules for DNA sequencing (not to mention male and female students studying side by side!)
The university, described by the king himself as a new Beyt al-Hekma, or House of Wisdom (referring to the medieval center of learning in Baghdad), will be governed by an independent board of trustees and open to researchers from across the globe. Its charter stipulates leading roles for women and people of diverse nationalities and faiths.
Well, I am resting easy and not just because I got all of the Professor’s discards. It’s a relief to hear about the positive going on out there. In the face of last week’s political storm over the shooting in Arizona, I am happy to report that even in the places you least expect it, there is hope and progress.
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