Matthew Trevithick (CGS’06, CAS’08) on “A University in Ruins”
In a May 21, 2017 article for The Chronicle of Higher Education, CGS alumnus Matthew Trevithick (CGS’06, CAS’08) describes how the University of Mosul is surviving the onslaught of the Islamic State. Trevithick interviews a graduate student and talks with a three-star Iraqi who hopes that Americans, who have been “so helpful in killing members of the Islamic State … will be equally helpful in helping us begin this process of reconstruction and rebirth.”
Trevithick, a former employee of the American University of Iraq and co-founder of SREO, writes:
That trust may be misplaced. Though there is widespread agreement in international development circles that education is a critical part of restoring some modicum of civil society and normalcy after conflict, international donor agencies and their respective governments in the last decades have generally preferred to invest in short-term, tangible projects to demonstrate to constituents back home that their funds are having an immediate impact. It’s easier to sell a water pump with a picture of a smiling beneficiary than a scholarship that may or may not produce a leader in 20 years. Stir in donor fatigue, skeptical taxpayers, and budget cuts in Western governments traditionally supportive of development efforts, and it is a formidable challenge to ensure that Iraqi students, just a few decades ago some of the most highly educated in the region, get back to their studies.
Trevithick goes on to describe the “charred skeleton” of the University’s library, “the smell of fire still in the area,” and a campus riddled with bullet holes and unexploded mortar. Read the full article at The Chronicle of Higher Education website.