Newspaper Page Text
Indonesian campus visit may spark interest in languages
By PAIGE VARNER
The Red & Black
Indonesians visited the University
Tuesday to higiUlght their country’s diver
sity and tolerance.
Though 88 percent of Indonesia is
Muslim, it is not a Muslim state, said
speaker M. Syafi’i Anwar, executive direc
tor of the International Center for Islam
and Pluralism.
Because Indonesians directly elected
their president for the first time in 2004,
Anwar said the debate on whether Islam is
compatible with democracy is no longer
relevant.
Furthermore, Indonesia’s model of reli
gion and culture is not unlike that of the
United States, said Islamic studies profes
sor Alan Godlas, whose religion depart
ment co-sponsored the Indonesian
Diversity Symposium.
“They have a respect for diversity," he
said. “And in that respect for diversity is
strength and unity.”
Jesuit priest Ignatius Ismartono provid
ed a Christian Indonesian’s viewpoint.
Catholics and Protestants make up about
9 percent of the Indonesian population.
Godlas compared the relationship
between Christians and Muslims in
Indonesia to their relationship in the
United States.
“In America, being a Christian doesn’t
preclude you from working with human
ists,” he said. "In Indonesia, being a Muslim
doesn’t preclude you from working with
people of other religions.”
Syafaatun Al-Mirzanah, professor of
Islamic thought at Indonesia’s State
Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga, said
Islam is both the fastest-growing and most
misunderstood religion.
Western media furthers stereotypes of
Islam as being equated with fanaticism,
intolerance and violations of human rights,
she said.
Islam is able to be interpreted in many
We’ve heard about Anonym_us
since September the secretive social
media user has given away S2O or
more daily to students who follow
him on Twitter.
But not many people know that
the owner of the account is a sec
ond-year student himself. He sat
down for a quick interview with The
Red & Black to explain his move
ment.
Why are you giving away all of this
money?
I am giving away money because
the college students deserve it. We
study a whole lot and it’s tough.
We’re here to get an education, and
the economy is kind of sucking, so
why not add an extra level of fun to
it? Why not get the students up for
something that adds a little excite
ment to their day? I mean it’s fun. so
why not?
Where does this money come from?
I have revenue coming in from
different areas that I’d rather not
disclose, and I’ll leave it at that.
What made you think of Twitter?
I was reading an article in Time
magazine about Tony Hawk. I had
never been a big fan of Twitter, but
then I saw that Tony Hawk had hid
den a skateboard in a Porta-Potty
on the side of the interstate and told
his followers where it was at, and he
signed it. I saw that and just
thought that was someone who was
using Twitter for a good reason. I
was like, ‘Man, wouldn’t it be cool if
someone hid money?’
Are there any strings attached to
your game or is it honestly just free
money?
It’s honestly just free money.
That’s the beautiful thing about
this. Whenever people start to hear
about this, whenever I was passing
out fliers at the beginning, most
Student investigated
on drug-related chaige
Case has not
been resolved
By JACOB DEMMITT
The Red & Buck
The Office of Student
Conduct has launched an
investigation into accusa
tions that University stu
dent Philip McGill sold
marijuana to fellow stu
dents.
Eric Atkinson, associate
dean of students, said the
investigation is ongoing
and has yet to be resolved
at the University.
The accusations arose
after students Molly
Alexandra Smith, 18, and
Elise Nicole Snyder, 18,
were arrested and charged
with possession of marijua
na on Oct. 23.
According to the police
report, Snyder told police
she and Smith bought an
eighth of an ounce of mari
juana from McGill at the
Kappa Sigma fraternity
house days earlier.
In addition to the mari
juana, police also found
ways, something she said she would explain
to an extremist Muslim intending to con
vince her of radical ideas.
Godlas said he welcomed the Indonesian
speakers because they spark University
students’ desire to leam languages critical
to the national interest.
“Part of the problem until Sept. 11 was
that America was somewhat xenophobic,”
he said.
Godlas said he wants students to be
equipped for communication outside the
Western world.
An Arabic minor was added to the reli
gion department last year. He hopes for
the other languages housed there
Indonesian, Bengali, F*ashto, Persian, Tajik,
Turkish and Urdu to also be offered as
minors.
Because these languages are taught by
teaching assistants in the Fulbright
Program— funded by taxpayers through
the Institute of International Education
classes need not meet enrollment quotas
before being offered, Godias said.
The key to receiving University funding
for creating new language minors is stu
dents showing interest, Godlas said.
Student interest has produced results
in the past. The University funded a Persian
class because 25 students wanted to
enroll.
Whether students enroll in these classes
to boost their resumes or to broaden their
worldview, Godlas said learning other lan
guages is a step toward making the United
States a truly global country.
“We need to be less focused just on
internal affairs.” he said, “and more inter
nationally aware.”
Q&A:
Who’s behind @Anonym_us?
people looked at it and laughed
because they didn’t think someone
was actually giving out free money.
Do you try to be safe in the ways
you give out the money?
I try to do it in public places,
sometimes at night and sometimes
during the day, but always in public
places. That way you don't have to
worry about getting jumped or any
thing along those lines.
Are you doing this giveaway for any
organization?
No. I’m not involved in any frater
nities and very few clubs.
Is it only you giving away the
money?
No, it’s not always me. I have a
couple of friends who help me out in
this process, and I also like to go up
to strangers on occasion and ask
people if they’d like to help me out
with a social experiment and usually
people are down. I just give them
money, tell them to wait for some
one.
So what do your friends think of it?
They think it’s interesting. I have
not given them money. I told them
that if my friends want to win some
money they need to follow me and
run in to it.
Can you give me some details on
how this thing started?
I actually came up with this idea
a year ago, and I’ve just been sitting
on it because I’m a sophomore, and
last year I was just trying to learn
everything and leam the city.
Are you going to get more creative
with the giveaways?
I hope so, once there’s enough
followers. I had the idea of possibly
having events scheduled, such as:
let’s have the world’s largest pillow
fight and send out a tweet asking
ONLINE
Police Documents
pipes in the glove compart
ments of the girls’ car.
Smith told The Red &
Black Monday McGill is a
“friend of a friend" of
Snyder.
On Oct. 26, the Office of
Student Conduct for
merly the Office of Judicial
Programs opened an
investigation into the accu
sations and sent McGill a
letter which states, “it is
alleged that Mr. McGill
engaged in drug related
misconduct when he sold
marijuana to another stu
dent,” according to docu
ments obtained by The
Red & Black.
The Office of Student
Conduct handles code of
conduct violations at the
University and are assisted
by University Judiciary in
formal hearings.
Smith said she has not
been contacted by anyone
from the University or by
police with questions about
where they purchased the
marijuana.
LANGUAGE CLASSES
More Information: Contact Alan Godlas to
enroll in the religion department's language
classes for the spring: godlas@uga.edu or
779-542-1486
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PAIGE VARNER { The Rm. a Bgu.
▲ Syafaatun Al-Mirzanah (left) and Ignatius Ismartono discuss diversity
in Indonesia, which is 86 percent Muslim and 9 percent Christian.
people to meet on Myers quad at 8
p.m. or something.
Does it take a lot of time to
coordinate?
I spend a little bit of my time dur
ing the day thinking about what I’m
going to do, where I’m going to hide
it and what the activity's going to be
during the day. I try not to use the
same activities over and over again,
so I guess I devote some of my time
to it. Brainstorming and coming up
with new ideas, but overall I’m still
trying to do my schoolwork.
Do you find it rewarding?
I really do. Anytime someone
wins S2O that they didn’t have to
work for, their face lights up and
that does give me a warm feeling.
Because it makes their day, and hey,
it is free cash.
Will this only happen for a year, or
do you plan on continuing it?
I plan on continuing all this year
and if things work out, then next
year as well. We’ll see how big it
grows. Right now we're at 860 fol
lowers. People are starting to find
out about it and take an interest.
It’s real. It’s happening.
Are you generally around when peo
ple give away money? Are you
around enough that people could
recognize you?
Well, possibly, but the people that
I give away money to, I generally ask
them to not point me out to a group
of friends or make my face known.
Why don’t you want to be known?
Because I don’t want to be known
as the guy who gives away money on
campus. Everyone would be watch
ing me out of the comer of their eye
and there’s no need for that.
Compiled bp Sarah Giarratana
The Red a Black j Wednesday, November io, 2010
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