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The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. |
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Yale’s Singapore Venture Yale’s venture in Singapore is altruistic and intellectually exciting, but I fear Yale is deluding itself in thinking that professors and students will be permitted academic freedom of expression. The reference in “Singapore spinoff” to the government of Singapore’s “use of criminal libel laws to silence its critics” significantly understates the issue--publications as respected as the New York Times, the Asian Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune, The Economist, Time and Bloomberg news have all been forced to pay substantial libel settlements in Singapore, amid statements that they had no choice because Singaporean politicians always win libel cases in their home courts against outsiders. Does Yale truly have persuasive evidence that Singapore permits professors and students to criticize the government--against such a backdrop? It appears far more likely that Yale is participating in the creation of an academic Potemkin Village which will be used to give a pretense of free expression. Moreover, the article does not discuss how the admissions process will function, especially what steps will be taken to ensure the politically connected are not favored in the process. I would much rather see Yale put forth additional efforts towards improving the education systems in impoverished urban and rural areas of the United States. |
Related Singapore Spinoff Alumni comments on Yale’s proposal for a new college in Singapore |
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©1992–2012, Yale Alumni Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Yale Alumni Magazine, P.O. Box 1905, New Haven, CT 06509-1905, USA. yam@yale.edu |
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