What would the world be like if every time that somebody is inconvenienced for a few minutes, he or she files a lawsuit?

What would the world be like if people were arrested based on the color of their skin and ridiculed because of their race, only to be told that nothing wrong was done to them?

This is not news. If every discrimination lawsiut filed againt local police departments was worthy of a news story, we'd have papers just for them.

This story seems to be surfacing just when DPS is under scrutinty for other things, and merely looks like another chance for the Hoya to bash them.

Way to go Hoya!

First of all, I don't think that is true regarding the campus police.

Second of all, this story first came up last May and was reported in The Hoya then.

Thirdly, the suit was filed yesterday. It is doesn't look like The Hoya sat on the story until now and then decided it was time to unload their goods. It was the guy's choice when to sue.

Lastly, I don't think the Hoya really needs to do much to make DPS look bad. They do a great job of that on their own.

It seems we have conflicting problems with DPS. If they fail to find suspicious persons before they commit crimes such as those seen recently we ridicule. When they do obtain people that are acting suspicious they get sued. I would rather them error on the side of the latter without the fear of getting sued. The officer making the jokes didn't help things, but it is very common in recent years for people to have their belongings searched when they are in crowded areas.

Pablo:
Agreed, DPS should stop suspicious persons. But being Iranian at a graduarion ceremony doesn't make you suspicious. All this guy did was look a little too Middle Eastern to some ignorant person.
The situations are totally different and DPS is incapable of actually detaining criminals so we're left with them doing stuff like this and breaking up parties as their main functions.

"But being Iranian at a graduarion ceremony doesn't make you suspicious. All this guy did was look a little too Middle Eastern to some ignorant person."

Really? Were you there? Did you witness his actions the entire time? Or are you just all knowing?

Is this really front page news? Not only has this story been written several times before (a new article for each insignificant nuance), but it is now at the back of a long line of recent Hoya articles concerning "diversity" (whatever that is) on campus. This ed board's bias is so sickeningly obvious that it has infiltrated not only their lopsided editorials but also their news coverage. I used to support independence. Now I wonder about the consequences. This kid may have a legitimate beef, but let's put this story where it belongs: in the admissions essay for graduate school that he is no doubt preparing as we speak.

Bring back Nick T.,

Joe

Buzz,
What's your point? That being Iranian is in fact reason enough for racial profiling and ridicule? On what basis?

I'm Iranian American, so I suppose I too should shut up and submit to unjustified ridicule because folks like you just don't feel safe around us...

Maybe you should read a little history and see who has actually heaped more abuse on who before automatically tagging us 'dark types' as suspicious...

I think Buzz's point was that nobody actually knows what happened in the first place. The only articles about what happened were based solely on Fattahi's claims, or were written by Fattahi himself (I believe he wrote an article about it for BBC?). The comments from DPS have all been something to the effect of "No comment".

Therefore, the only way to actually know the whole truth of what happened would be by divining it, by actually being involved, or being there the whole time. But then again it is a lot more fun to assume everyone is after you.

Mr. Reluctant,

Let me guess, was that racist movie “300” a lot of fun too?
I surely don’t expect DPS to comment on this one!?

Dara:

According to my reading of the other articles on the incident, (which I agree were entriely written from the perspective of the alleged victim), DPS was merely responding to complaints by other people in the crowd. Its simply not racial profiling when an officer responds to some elses complaint. Thats exactly what they are trained and paid to do.

The same doesnt apply to allegedly racist statement made by DPS, but no one can verify whether those statements were actually made. The only person who claims to have heard them is the same person who is doing his best to capitalize on his own victimization.

So until all the facts are known, why do you feel the need to immediatly assume that he was taken aside because he's iranian. Dont you know hundreds of arabs/persians that walk around Georgetown everyday exercizing their constitutional freedoms. Maybe, maybe its possible that this guy actually was making people uncomfortable.

Finally, this balancing of historical hardships argument so often used in defense of the arab/persian world is complete nonsense. Its almost always used when a arab or arab-american is pissed at Americans, but what does it mean. Because American styled capitalism didnt pay for your ruthless despot to build you a new soccer stadium, we should abandon our own fundamental right to secure our crowded places?!?!

We should just give anrgy Islamists one free shot just to even the score?!?! Its an assine distraction.

The fact is that we live in a world where it is increasingly common for angry people to kill civilians at random in crowded places. Sometimes they're arab sometimes they're persian, sometimes they are white. When someone reports being uncomfortable by the bahavior of anyone, law enforcement should take them aside and get to the bottom of it immediately.

And if the poice arent polite while doing it (which hasnt been verified here), I'm cool with that. We are not constitutionally entitled to police who are trainined in etiquette. They are trained to respond to reported and observed risks. I have a feeling that a suspicious white man in the arab world would get his share of jibes in interogation too.

Their job is hard enough without worrying about frivolous law suits and baseless accusations.

Regards,

Saxon Gillis

Saxon,
If DPS was merely responding to complaints by other people in the crowd, then Kambiz Fattahi has all the rights to respond to those complaints as well. Especially when there is a chance the officers might have acted unprofessionally. Surely the officers are not paid to insult people! Not with my tax-dollars.
Next you forget that Kambiz Fattahi is really an Iranian-American, and indulge yourself into non-sense about Islam and Middle East. Kambiz felt uncomfortable with the officers’ racial comments and the arrest and removal actions on a single baseless complaint. He is doing the right thing by exercising his rights through the legal channels to make sure his and other people’s constitutional rights are respected here. We must hear from those officers! And maybe it is time to add an amendment to our constitution in regard to having more respect for other people; especially since we live in such ethnically and religiously diverse country.
Next your statistics seem to be flawed. I will be surprised to see even one case of any Iranian (Persian)-Americans or a significant number of Arab-Americans ever involved in terrorist activities against United States. And aside from Iraq where a war is going on, I can assure you that there are plenty of white Americans living in peace in many ally Arab countries.
No one is asking the abandonment of the fundamental right to secure crowded places here; we are asking a stop to racial-profiling and prejudice. And finally as far as “the balancing of historical hardships argument”, even though I believe it might be a serious distraction from the real issue, the Middle Eastern countries by God’s Grace happen to have plenty stadiums and are rich enough to finance more without the American help. What is not appreciated is when America goes around and advertises “Progress” and “Building Democracies” in the world and the Middle East when in fact it crushed one in Iran in 1953; and years later schemed against an ally and progressive Shah! What hypocrisy!

Sincerely yours,

Behdad

Behdad:

Unfortunately, your previous post is so riddled with inaccuracies that the best way to respond is a point by point refutation. Its not the best reading, but it does set the record straight. To keep things interesting I did include a few zingers. I hope my post doesnt affect your claimed Constitutional rights. At some point, I'd love to read the Constitution you've been reffering to.

Here we go.

(1)If the DPS officers were merely responding to complaints of others in the crowd, then they were behaving entirely approprioately. Once informed of unsual behavior, I would think DPS is DUTY BOUND to investigate fully. Would you disagree?

(2) Rest assured, your tax dollars do not pay DPS salary. They are employees of a private university. (How much do you really know about this incident, or is this just an opportuity to grandstand?)

(3) With regard to the allegation of unprofessional conduct, the only person who recalls such conduct is the same person shamelessly trying to capitalize on his own victimization. Even if such conduct were established, see point 4. Also, you incorrectly note that he was arrested. He was not. See point 2.

(4) His constitutional rights were not affected since Georgetown is a private university and not a state actor. Further, there is no constitutional right against being insulted.

(5)I'd love to hear more about your proposed constitutional amendment. If its merely a constitutional amendment against people insulting one another, that seems like a interesting use of the people's time and flies in the face of other Constitional liberties we hold dear. Just the same, I'd love to see some sample language.

(6) I didn't use a single statistic and therefore I dont feel oblidged to defend the allegation that my statistics were flawed. I did mention that terrorist come in all colors and the need for civilians and law enforcement alike to be vigiliant. I stand by those remarks.

(7) With regard to "No one is asking the abandonment of the fundamental right to secure crowded places here; we are asking a stop to racial-profiling and prejudice."

I stated in my previous post and above here that since the officers were responding to another's' complaint they were per se not engaging in racial profiling. They had no discretion to abuse; they were duty bound to take the man aside and investigate. Would you prefer that reports of suspected terror go UNINVESTIGATED?

(8) Since we both agree that the "balance of hardships analysis" is in fact an assine distraction, I wont address it here except to applaud those nations who by "God's Grace" have built their own soccer stadiums.

Thanks for your time Behdad. I enjoy these exchanges, but sincerely doubt we will be able to reach common ground here. Obviously, I prefer complaints of suspected terror be investigated; you agree only to the point that no individual is ever insulted in the process. Just the same, I wish you the best.

Saxon Gillis

Good morning Saxon,
Unfortunately you failed to read my post carefully before responding, and dodged some of the points yourself first brought up on “the balancing of historical hardships argument”, and then you go on arguing illogically on some issues by only beating around the bush.
I will answer your “refutation” corresponding to your own numbering system, but I will try to avoid hopping from point to point as you have done so. But before proceeding, I suggest while you’re reading the Constitution, you also read the American history on the rise of capitalism, crimes committed against the first peoples, African-Americans, Latinos,………, and the history of building soccer stadiums in the Middle East!
Here we go.
(1) I agree that the DPS is DUTY BOUND to investigate complaints fully, but since you happen to know more about this incident than me, then maybe you can tell me if the investigation led to any discoveries appropriate enough for the removal.
(2) Are you claiming that the university is not connected to the American tax-payers’ money in anyway? Or there are no tutions being paid by Middle Eastern-American students on campus?? I do agree that I need to learn more about this incident, this is why I previously said “We must hear from those officers”; please read it more carefully. And before you accuse others of “grandstanding”, please also read your own post to Dara!
(3) The officers must have acted unprofessionally in order for the university to offer any type of settlement including “training for the members of DPS and the IDEAA who were involved in the detainment and investigation,……, and a private letter of regret to Fattahi”.
So please tell me who is/are the shameless ones?
Having said all that, I do agree that I also failed to distinguish between the two terms of “detainment” and “arrest”.
(4) Are you suggesting that Georgetown is above constitutional laws? Is the university president ready to back your claim? Further, no one claimed there are any constitutional rights against being insulted!?!!! One would hope there would be more respect.
(5) While exercising our first amendment right, please let’s make sure we don’t encourage or brainwash people to disregard other Constitutional liberties we all hold dear; like some of that poison circulating in our media and film industries or else-where nowadays. To give you a sample language on this proposed constitutional amendment on “mutual-respect”, allow me to furnish it with a little zinger: “I am looking into the newly planned/proposed stadium in the Dubai Sports City”.
(6) Your statistics are flawed. You need to document cases of Iranian-Americans or any other Middle-Eastern-Americans “killing civilians at radom in crowded places” before you can make such baseless/non-sense accusations here. And please, please, please, if they are not Americans, stop relating it to an incident involving an Iranian (Persian)-American on a university campus. And I would really love to have seen our national investigation agencies as vigiliant as some of those so concerned! And while you are standing behind your statistical remarks, are you still standing for your other asinine remarks?
(7) Racial-profiling and prejudice seem to be done by a lot of people these days; allow me to list not any names! And while I expect terror reports to be fully investigated, I also expect the rights of the citizens to be respected and the source of any terror report to also be fully investigated. As I have said in the past, we must hear from the involved officers.
(8) I still haven’t figured out what you mean by “assine”, but if you mean “asinine”, then I have expressed my feeling on some of your remarks. May the Lord bless you richly.

I also like to thank you for your time, and I also enjoyed these exchanges; but un-like you I think maybe by killing our egos a bit, we might be able to reach some common ground one day. Here is one arleady: we both prefer complaints of suspected terror to be investigated fully. But, I like to see some accountablity from the authorities also.
I, as well, wish you the very best; and offer you a final word of peace.
Sincerely yours,
Behdad
www.takavaran.org

Behdad:

(1)Kambiz Fattahi was not removed. He was asked to step into a hallway for a half-hour at which point he returned to his seat. It took roughly a half hour to verify his identity and question him as to others complaints. (unreasonable?)

(2)I didn't claim that the University has no connection to the money of the American taxpayer, I only highlighted that as a private university, your tax dollars dont pay anyone's salary. The fact that Middle Easterners pay tuition is irrelevant. We all have equal interest in safety in crowded places.

(3) The offering of a settlement in no way indicates actual unprofessional conduct. When a settlement is cheaper than the cost of litigation, a prudent manager will offer a reasonable settlement. Its extortion for sure, but Kambiz doesnt seem above extortion.

(4) I am not saying that Georgetown is "above constitutional law," but only that your Constitutional rights are against the Government not other private actors. If the government isnt implicated, your Constituional rights arent affected.

(5) Your point 5 is basically uninteligible so I am at a loss as to how to respond. Dubai is very pretty.

(6) Again, I havent used any statistics. Nor have I made any accusations. I am at aloss as to how to respond.

(7) You said, "Racial-profiling and prejudice seem to be done by a lot of people these days; allow me to list not any names!"

That may be, but that doesnt mean that racial profiling occurred here. The officers didnt profile anyone, they were obligated to question Kambiz in response to complaints from the crowd.

Further, you want the source of complaints investigated? Thats irresponsible. People should feel free to report suspicion to authroities without fear of reprisal.

(8) You correctly identify a typographical error. I meant asinine.

I would love to reach common ground, however if a half-hour interogation to a reported complaint into suspicious activity on private property is in your mind Constitutionally impermissible, I doubt we'll be able to reach common ground on your terms. I value your safety too much.

Regards,

Saxon Gillis

I'm concerned about how easy it is to blame individual DPS officers for administrators' failure to prevent & address this incident or the recent sexual assaults. DPS officers work 12- and 16-hour days doing everything they can do with inadequate training and understaffing, and in return they can hardly make ends meet to cover their families' cost of living, earning wages lower than many nearby colleges' campus police. and now they're taking the biggest piece of the blame for racial profiling and sexual assault? (Our new VP of Safety-- "Rocky"-- seemed delighted to announce he fired a few officers after the sexual assault. Is he delighted because he truly believes he had nothing to do with what happened?)

Come on, folks-- did we learn anything from Abu Ghraib? There are always higher-ups who should've been taking responsibility.

In the racial profiling case, let's look at the broader context. Racism and xenophobia very obviously exist, especially "post-9/11", and the effects of racism clearly go beyond "inconvenience". We're talking about major power inequalities that pervade every aspect of our lives. One way to break down that system of oppression is holding powerful people accountable. So let's keep a close eye on who actually faces consequences for this thing, and who pretends they were above the fray.

Personally, I feel embarrassed that even GU's IDEAA office couldn't acknowledge that DPS' behavior was not totally appropriate. The university should have acknowledged that its officers and administrators acted on a highly racialized suspicion of Kambiz Fattahi, acknowledged their wrongdoing, and made a serious plan to change things (not a public relations band-aid). He says wouldn't have sued if that was done, anyway.

To Saxon Gillis,
What I see here, and particularly in your posts, goes WAY beyond this particular case. My initial post was also not based on just this incident, about which none of us knows all the details.

I was reacting to posters like you, who constantly bring out the same tired and ridiculous right wing, Fox-news type of arguments, about how those damned Middle Easterners just complain and whine, play victim and blame America for everything. I don't want to be rude, but I have to say that your post was a long non-sensical self-righteous rant basically perpetuating the same negative stereotypes which are so prevalent in this country. This is the problem I feel compelled to respond to.

I'm NOT some 'pissed off Persian or Arab' as you so kindly categorized. I have a master's degree and have lived in the US for 30 years. I have every right to speak out against trivializing the abuse of my fellow Iranian Americans. Again, this doesn't pertain just to this case at Georgetown, but this case reflects a much broader problem and point of view, mostly among white conservatives, that allows for ignoring very relevant problems with prejudice and mistreatment of Iranian Americans. Maybe this guy Fattahi is really to blame, but to say his race has nothing to do with it is a bit disingenuous.

The historical context that you are railing against is also VERY important. Not as a way to try and blame America as you seem to want to imply (again very typical point of view among white republicans), but rather as a way to understand the other side's perspective. For most Americans, Iranian history begins with the hostages in 1980. This misses a HUGE portion of history.

Anyway, I can go on longer to refute your absurd comments, but I suspect it would have no effect.

By the way, did you enjoy the way McCain sang 'bomb bomb bomb Iran'? Wasn't it cute and funny to sing about killing innocent civilians? Just as funny as that idiot Ahmadinejad's comments, but I'm sure you have many reasons why McCain's words were OK.

Historical context sir...read a few books written by people other than Bill O'Reilly and Pastor Hagee...

Dara:

You're knowledge about me extends no further than what has been written here. You don't know if I am white, or republican, and you have no idea how well read I am. So why dont we try to keep the tenure of debate focused on the quality of ideas rather than your prejudices against people of certain colors, political persuasions, and choice of cable network. I think you'll find it more in keeping with the dignity of a masters degree.

If you have a beef with American society writ large, or merely the half of us that prefer Fox to CNN, thats fine. You are entitled to that preconception. It runs fairly reciprocal to the preconception that many Persians and Arabs care more about petty inconviences and slights than they do for the safety of their neighbors or that justice be persued against the perpretrators of heinous violence.

If the reports in the Hoya are accurate, DPS did not engage in any profiling of Kambiz, racial or otherwise. Niether did they enfringe upon his rights since his "detainment" was no longer than neccessary to evaluate the fears of the other Baccalureat guests. Nor did any other person of any race complain of disparate treatment at the graduation. Nor can any person other than the self-victimizing Kambiz verify that the DPS officers even knew or acknowledged he was of Persian descent.

If you think the history of Iran is important and interesting and worthwhile you are entitled to tell us all about it whenever you like. I'm sure it is interesting, but with regard to Kambiz's interogation it was not relevant.

Regards,

Saxon Gillis

I hope this dude/his attorney gets Rule 12(b)(6)'ed out of court complete with some sweet sweet Rule 11 sanctions. What half-ass attorney brings a "Constitutional rights" violation against a private institution? Haha. Most/all of the charges that he can actually recover on are a waste of the court's and the taxpayer's time. If everyone took everybody who ever insulted them because of their perceived race or ethnicity to court...I don't know what, but it would be ridiculous. Life sucks, get a helmet. And Behdad, please would you learn something about the American legal system before you try to make ridiculous claims after you were already proven wrong once.

"The extremists are angry _ let them suffer their own anger."

Re: Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) and Rule 11.

I concur completely in your analysis WB. Most constitutional claims like this are meant to draw attention to the overgeneralized plight of X, Y, and/or Z minority group and have little to do with the merits of the specific incident. Even a successful claim is not likely to bring much money. Regardless of the merits of this case, this is clearly at least a part of the attempt here. And, of course, it is working, because we're talking about it.

As to the merits of this claim, who knows? I certainly don't, because I, like (presumably) everyone else on this board, was not involved in the incident. Maybe his complaint is legitimate; maybe it's not. Frankly, there is simply no way for us to know.

With that said, I am going to hold firm to my belief that there is a graduate school admissions essay tied bound up in this lawsuit. Someone sued my high school on an ADA violation for substantially that reason, and it seems to have gotten her into a far better college than her grades and standardized test scores would have. Thus, in some sense, it seems to me that there could be a significant upside for the plaintiff regardless of the outcome of the case.

Question: is that a bad thing? I don't know.

Interesting to see some legal analysis and FRCP coming out of the comments. I do think it's important to note that a case like this isn't about winning on the merits and on the cause of action described, as Warren pointed out. But a case like this does have value for 2 reasons: 1) fact-finding, because it puts an onus on Georgetown to do at least some minimal fact-finding to determine what happened and 2) raises awareness of potential on-going discrimination in our country, no matter how slight, which as Americans, I'm sure most of us can agree is a good thing. Georgetown's fact-finding may serve as an internal deterrent to future discriminatory actions. This internal pressure is good for everyone on campus, because it will refocus and sharpen the DPS "lens" of policies and procedures where they more deservingly belong.

I do have to take issue with Saxon Gillis' portrayal of Kambiz's suit as a "person shamelessly trying to capitalize on his own victimization". First, as we all admittedly lack the first-hand facts, I don't think anyone can assert that Kambiz's claim is either shameless or trying to capitalize. Second, I'm sorry, but have you noticed the American legal system? The strength of the rule of law in our country and power of our legal system has been formed from the millions of lawsuits of those "capitalizing" on their "victimizations". Indeed our country has such a strong history of capitalizing on victimizations, that much to the disgust of some Europeans, we make liberal use of punitive damages and the jury trial system. I'm sure Saxon would draw a distinction between the family of a murder victim "trying to capitalize" and Kambiz's situation. But such a distinction is artificial, since for a strong rule of law to emerge, we need people "trying to capitalize" in all breadths and domains of the law.

Lastly, the most disheartening thing I have read in the comments is Joe's "belief that there is a graduate school admissions essay tied bound up in this lawsuit", which was echoed by a few others. These comments smack of bitterness, particularly when we draw clumsy extrapolations of "someone at my school did this and got into this school and she obviously didn't deserve to get in there", etc. First, I'm sure that as an immigrant/child of immigrants, Kambiz already had enough fodder to write up one of those "foreigner-y" admissions essays; he certainly didn't need to spend thousands in attorney's fees in order to secure his diversity appeal in the essay. Second, and more importantly, there is a double standard when it comes to 1st and 2nd generation immigrants to the US. On one hand, someone with the name Osuma bin Khalilzad may want to write an essay about how growing up in LA, participating in Boy Scouts and playing basketball in college really inspired him to pursue his PhD in Sports Medicine. But come on, admissions committees (and I was on one) are going to expect some kind of story behind that oh-so-very-odd sounding name. So the double standard emerges, that while immigrants may want to write a red-blooded American type of admissions essay, they are really precluded from doing so because they must first "explain away" their foreignness, usually with an admissions essay along the lines of "my parents are foreign, growing up I was exposed to two cultures, but my personal experience with (insert X here) taught me that there is a continued need for public policy action on X, which is why I'm applying to Georgetown's MPP". "White" Americans (whatever that means) shouldn't be so bitter at the fact that 1st and 2nd generation immigrants use their immigrant status to bolster their admissions chances. First, the schools are the ones seeking more "diversity", and if you have a problem with that, then you should look to US history to discover exactly why these schools are mandated to bring in diversity. You can't blame that on the student. Second, what student isn't going to capitalize on anything they have going for them to improve their chances, whether they are a debutante from Dallas or a devout Muslim from Deerborn? Third, what about "white" American families who have the privilege of being legacies at universities, this certainly helps them as well, does it mean they shouldn't put it in their admissions application (and just saying there is a box for that on the form really isn't a solid point). As these examples point out, there are a host of issues involved with admissions applications, and can't be separated into black-and-white distinctions of "how dare you immigrant try to use your ethnicity/race/religion/whatever to improve your admissions chances!"

Shadi:

While I disagree with you on a few points, I really value your thoughful contribution to what I believe is an important conversation.

As to our disagreements, they are minor but worth discussing.

First, while I acknowledge that no one has direct and actual knowledge of what transpired, in evaluating Kambiz's claim I (and other posters) gave him the benefit of every inference in setting out the chain of events. I believe firstly, that the chain of events as described by Kambiz himself fails to reach even the minimum threshhold of a recognizable claim for racial profiling or unreasonable detainment. This is what a previous poster described as a 12-b-6 ruling.

Second, in addition to not finding a claim in his portrayal of the facts, I and many other posters dont find his portrayal of the facts to be credible. Since we dont believe it to be credible, I and others are offended that Kambiz would drag our university through the mud and put the livelyhood of our campus security guards in jeopardy over a story that doesnt seem truthful. This roughly comes to what a previous poster deemed a Rule 11.

On the first point, we assumed Kambiz was honest and found no fault in the guards handling.

On the second point we evaluated his claim absent that defference and suspect him of grave dishonesty. Even a casual reading of Kambiz claim reeks of implausible exaggeration. Can we really listen to his unsubstantiated claim that the DPS officer started making jokes about the Geography of the middle east!?!?! It simply flies in the face of almost any Hoya's experience when dealing with DPS patrolmen (as they are generally courteous, even handed, and not particularly interested in geogrpaphy).

In light of both his weak allegations as assumed true, and the implausibility of them if not so assumed, I find his complaints fairly shameless and assume they are self serving. As I don't know Kambiz, I suppose reasonable people can disagree as to my characterization of him.

AS far as the development of Civil rights through zealous pursuit of claims -- I think the argument has weight, but generally we value most CREDIBLE CLAIMS. A people's accession shouldn't be won on the back of untruthful or exaggerated events at the expense of honest and affable security personell.

There may be an argument to be made about the treatment of Iranian-Americans generally, but ethnic groups are not represented in the judicial process which is established to weigh the rights of individuals who assert claims.

Just the same, The Hoya is not a court, it is venue of the free press. But when serious allegations are levied people get hurt. The officers involved are good people as is their leadership and they both seemed to have behaved appropriately. As such, unless Kambiz shares with the public some substantiation of his implausible claim we have every right to characterize him as we justly believe him to be -- shameless.

Regards,

Saxon Gillis

Shadi,

I think we agree on most points. As to my "bitterness" and "clumsy extrapolutions," I prefer to term them "ironic detachment" and "observations," respectively.

I'm not bitter. I went to Georgetown, did well, went to law school, did well, and now practice law (well, I think). Quite obviously, I don't know Kambiz from anybody else such that I can't say anything non-speculative about his motivation to file suit. I was simply noting some potentially hidden incentives behind the recent graduate's lawsuit and others like it, many of which are re-examined in the first few paragraphs of your response.

As for forced diversity, that's a topic better suited for adifferent message board, I think. Surely the Hoya has reproduced such a board...perhaps there is one to be found in the paper's recent rash of seemingly obligatory diversity-related articles (see, e.g., GUGS T-Shirts).