Washington College Alumni Magazine Spring 2012 : Page 6
WWW.WASHCOLL.EDU THE REPORTER Students Hear Firsthand Reports Of Arab Spring N A THURSDAY morn-ing in late February, 12 students in Shiraz Maher’s “Middle East Politics” class listen via Skype as a young Syrian resistance fighter named Khaled Abu Hunain describes how grim life has become for him and his anti-Assad col-leagues in the besieged city of Homs. He had helped Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin and other journalists sneak into the Baba Amr neighborhood that had become the heart of the resistance, and he tries with limited success to livestream cellphone video images from inside the house where Colvin and others had died the previous day during government rocket strikes. “Please don’t show any bodies,” Maher suggests, as grainy images appear on his laptop and shells explode in the background. Wishing Abu Hunain well and promising to follow up later, Maher then connects with a university colleague named Lorenzo, who is an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood. Speaking from his laptop in Zur-ich, Lorenzo gives the students a quick tutorial on the political group’s history and its role in the Arab Spring. As a visiting lecturer in political science, Maher brings a wealth of connections and experiences—including a three-year stint as a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir , an extreme political group that advocates for the creation of one independent Muslim state under Islamic law. He is now a senior research fel-low at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) based at King’s College London. In that role, the former Hizb ut-Tahrir recruiter works to counter the cultural, eco-nomic and political forces that lure young men into religious extremism and violence. Maher is in Chestertown at the invitation of College Presi-dent Mitchell Reiss. The two met last fall in London when Reiss took part in a debate spon-sored by the ICSR. With a his-tory degree from the University of Leeds and a M.Phil. in His-torical Studies from Cambridge University, Maher has scholarly credentials. But his personal experiences often make the dif-ference in his teaching. “Professor Maher’s own knowledge and the experts he has introduced in the class have enabled us to delve deeper into the material and made the topics much more engaging,” says international studies major Mallory Kahn-Johnson. “To be able to talk to someone who is actually living what we read in the news is amazing.” O A groundbreaking ceremony for the JFC expansion is slated for Saturday, April 21. College To Expand Johnson Fitness Center I A native of England who grew up in Saudi Arabia, Shiraz Maher says 9/11 spurred him to explore his own Muslim identity. NTENDING TO START construction this summer on an addition to the Johnson Fitness Center, Washington College is seeking to raise $1.8 million for the project that will benefit students, faculty, staff and members of The 1782 Society who opt to use campus athletic facilities. In partnership with the College, the William B. Johnson ’40 family—lead donors for the original Benjamin A. Johnson 1911 Fitness Center construction—has issued a chal-lenge grant, promising to match gifts to the capital project, dollar for dollar. The campaign seeks to raise the funds needed for the expansion/renovation project over the next five months. Built nearly 20 years ago for a student body of 850, the John-son Fitness Center is clearly at capacity. Plans call for a 3,200-square-foot glassed gallery addition to accommodate cardiovascular exercise equipment. Tread-mills, stair steppers, elliptical machines and rowing machines will be arranged to face an 18-foot wall of windows. Exer-cisers will be able to watch the leaves change, or check the lat-est political developments on a bank of television sets mounted above the cardio equipment. A corner of the new gallery will be set aside for floor work—includ-ing body weight circuits and stretching. The existing fitness space will be renovated and devoted exclusively to strength training with universal weight machines and free weights. In early January an anony-mous donor committed $418,000 toward the project— enough to fund the gallery and all new equipment. “This project represents a wonderful opportunity not only to enhance the experience of our student-athletes, but also to meet the fitness needs of the entire College community,” notes Board Chairman Ed Nord-berg ’82, a former lacrosse player who is directing fundraising efforts for the Johnson Fitness Center project. Several naming opportunities remain. While construction is under-way throughout the fall semes-ter, the existing facility will remain operational. SPRING 2012 6 WASHINGTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
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