You can take the boy out of Shari’a, but…

A Yemeni citizen and American college student who grew up in Saudi Arabia and professes to want to spread democracy via college campuses (yes, he said that) thinks that it’s okay for the student government to pass a rule that would forbid students to pose for nude pictures. In this politically correct decade, of course, the rule says “males or females,” but in practice, of course, it is aimed at the women who posed for Playboy’s college girl editions. (The discussion is all about women, though he is careful to say “males and females” in his quotes.)

Funny, I just don’t see this as a democratic ideal:

Undergraduate Student Government President Yaser Alamoodi is hoping to pass a rule that would prohibit males and females from posing in magazines he believes are damaging to ASU’s reputation.

“I was concerned to see logos and the name of ASU being associated with such magazines,” he said. “I don’t want the name of ASU to be a joke anymore, and I think the Playboy association is a big reason why the ASU academic reputation is not up to what it should be.”

Under the proposed rule, students who posed would be punished by the rules set forth in the student code of conduct.

According to the code, any student who is found to violate the rules is subject to expulsion, suspension, probation, warning or payment of restitution.

The harshest punishment would be expulsion or suspension from ASU, but Alamoodi doubts it would come to that.

“Hopefully, coming close to [expulsion or suspension] would be enough of a deterrent for males or females to engage in this,” he said.

Funny, I’m still not seeing the democratic ideal in this proposal. Granted, the objectification of women is, well, objectable to some, but to make a rule that counts expulsion from college as a punishment for posing in the nude? If we haven’t time-traveled back to the nineteenth century, I’d have to say that is right up to par for a country like, say Saudi Arabia. Well, if you add the stoning and the lashes.

You can take the boy out of the Shari’a, but you can’t take the Shari’a out of the boy, it seems.

Luckily for us, this is America. The campus newspaper is laughing at him. The students are laughing at him. The college president is laughing at him.

During a campus town hall meeting Nov. 17, President Michael Crow said he did not think there was much the University could do about students posing in Playboy.

“Such matters are private,” he said. “It’s not part of the University student code of conduct. If they’re over 18, they can do what they want.”

But this doesn’t seem to be stopping the man who wants to spread democratic ideals and ethics.

Alamoodi said he was not surprised by Crow’s response, but was still planning to pursue the issue.

“Like any other academic, he is strongly committed to the freedom of speech,” Alamoodi said. “It’s part of my efforts to convince the administration and the students of the benefits we can get out of [the rule].”

Interesting, isn’t it, how quickly Alamoodi, that defender of the spread of democracy, is so quick to denigrate free speech when the freedom involves something of which he disapproves? Must be that Saudi upbringing.

In any case, let’s let Macy Hanson have the last word, in the final paragraph to his column (and boy, does this bring back memories of my college Op-Ed days):

I simply hope that we can all agree on two things. First, Alamoodi must immediately set up a committee to review all of the past instances of ASU students posing for Playboy. And second, he should name me to this committee.

God bless the irreverence of the college newspaper Op-Ed pages.