The King Versus The Radicals

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Bringing foreigners and foreign ideas into the Saudi heartland is sure to provoke a backlash. "Aramco over time has gotten good with God by greatly reducing the number of infidels working there," Lippman says, referring to efforts to "Saudify" the company in the 1980s after the government took control. "But this university is explicitly going in the opposite direction—it is setting out to bring in infidels, and a lot of them. This is very provocative." The school's zealous egalitarianism will be especially controversial. "I can't stress enough how important gender issues are for the religious factions in society—it really is the third rail of Saudi politics," Gause says. "This is a very emotional issue that will be a flash point once this university opens."

Beyond the symbolism, KAUST's Western-style curriculum is sure to have a profound impact on those who study there. "If you are really going to have a science university that doesn't have a designated purpose—of producing people to do x job or x assignment, the way most Saudi universities are now—that will presumably produce scientists that [will] follow where their research takes them," Lippman says. "Sooner or later, even in the sciences, that will put them against the establishment."

All this comes at a particularly delicate time. In recent years Aramco has started to come under threat from conservative Saudi elements, including some within the company. "There are an increasing number of people at Aramco who are offended by what goes on there," says one member of the Shura Council, the king's powerful consultative body. "You can't screen against these people, and they are changing the face of Aramco." The problem, explains Lippman, is that "the people working at Aramco now, in their mid-30s, came to adulthood in the Saudi Arabia unleashed by King Fahd, who turned the social life of the country over to the fire-and-brimstone absolutists. I would not underestimate the counterforces who are willing to take quite radical measures to prevent alien ideas and unwanted social measures from entering their society."

Liberals are hoping the new university project will advance their cause in the country at large, and inside Aramco as well. "We're in a very patriarchal society that believes strongly in centralization," said al-Husseini, the former Aramco VP. "The challenge is to maintain Aramco's trademark level of dialogue—which has been eroded—and revitalize the tolerant, open, transparent culture."

Aramco tried something similar before, however, and it died in controversy. In the 1960s, Aramco was commissioned to open the King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, an attempt at a Western-style institution for engineers and scientists. But its progressive elements were overturned in 1977, when the school was put under control of the Wahhabi Education Ministry—which fired the female professors and most of the Western staff and mandated religious classes for all students. "You can't hide behind a sand dune along the Red Sea and make a secret university there," says a former administrator at King Fahd University. "Many people in Aramco are frankly scared to death of the Wahhabis. Aramco is not happy about being put in the line of fire, and if King Abdullah is using Aramco to stave off the Wahhabi fundamentalists, that will spell trouble."

Indeed, it would be foolish to bet against the Wahhabis in this current struggle, given that their fundamentalist education system is constantly producing more conservative Saudi youngsters. Abdullah, moreover, is 83, with no clear liberal successor. Still, that may help explain why he's willing to make such a dangerous bet with the country's most precious resource. This might just be the last chance the king gets to institutionalize his progressive legacy and improve the future of his troubled land.

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Despite the many errors in this article, the underlying premise is relatively accurate. Saudi Aramco is still called "Aramco" throughout Saudi Arabia and enjoys a certain "separate state" status within the country.. However, with Saudiation, its independent status has alteredsignificantly over the past 20 years, becoming less open and more vulnerable to extremeist incursions (decorative wreaths stolen from doors, holiday figurines stolen or desecrated, women joggers harrassed by bearded men - the dreaded Mutaween - in passing cars). However, the Dhahran compound (NOT Dammam) remaines the residence of choice for Western-educated Saudis with Western-educated wives. True, women are permitted to work, but the opportunities are increasingly limited to select positions within the company. Nearly all women working in the medical clinic are all veiled in the extreme: eyes only are visible. The "face" of the clinic is a vision of flowing black hostility.

Abdullah is too aware that, like Bush, he is a lame duck; he is the last of the absolute rulters. His successor must change the image of the Royal Family withint the country AND modernize the nation. a task that could result in his assassination.

It is worth remembering that the "Western" KFUPM - also built by and sited just outside Aramco - banned engineering classes in "Probability" because Allah controls all and it is not permissible to postulate what Allah will do. The Aramco television stations cease broadcasting during prayer breaks; the radio station censors music (imagine a C&W song with all mention of booze or broads bleeped!!) Sattelite TV became available only AFTER the establishment of the All-Islam channels; efforts to limit incoming "heathen" transmissions has failed, but effort is still underway to put that genie back in the bottle.

The Saudis are a tribal, hyper-religious, hypocritical populace that resist even 19th century norms within their tight boundaries. Muslims forbidden to drink will party happily outside the country but would be outraged to find a legal bar or nightclub in the Kingdom. Saudi men oogle women at in modest street clothes, drool over women in swimsuits, cover their ample girths with overstretched Speedos but keep "their women" literally under wraps. Saudi people will never permit the freedom of information, interaction, and social exchange common in classrooms even in the Islamic world; the concept of a Western university on Saudi terrirory is beyond comprehension.

Abdullah may found it and fund it, but will he or his successors be permitted to maintain it?

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Posted By: sebinns @ 05/27/2008 2:05:21 AM

I am a professor at KFUPM in the mathematics department studying Randomness. We also have an active teaching program in Probability. I don't know where GrayKat gets his information. KFUPM is a great university with an active research base and bright motivated students. I have taught at large state universities in the USA and KFUPM is comparible in the teaching load given to faculty and support for research.
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Posted By: GrayKat @ 05/23/2008 4:37:22 PM

Despite the many errors in this article, the underlying premise is relatively accurate. Saudi Aramco is still called "Aramco" throughout Saudi Arabia and enjoys a certain "separate state" status within the country.. However, with Saudiation, its independent status has alteredsignificantly over the past 20 years, becoming less open and more vulnerable to extremeist incursions (decorative wreaths stolen from doors, holiday figurines stolen or desecrated, women joggers harrassed by bearded men - the dreaded Mutaween - in passing cars). However, the Dhahran compound (NOT Dammam) remaines the residence of choice for Western-educated Saudis with Western-educated wives. True, women are permitted to work, but the opportunities are increasingly limited to select positions within the company. Nearly all women working in the medical clinic are all veiled in the extreme: eyes only are visible. The "face" of the clinic is a vision of flowing black hostility.

Abdullah is too aware that, like Bush, he is a lame duck; he is the last of the absolute rulters. His successor must change the image of the Royal Family withint the country AND modernize the nation. a task that could result in his assassination.

It is worth remembering that the "Western" KFUPM - also built by and sited just outside Aramco - banned engineering classes in "Probability" because Allah controls all and it is not permissible to postulate what Allah will do. The Aramco television stations cease broadcasting during prayer breaks; the radio station censors music (imagine a C&W song with all mention of booze or broads bleeped!!) Sattelite TV became available only AFTER the establishment of the All-Islam channels; efforts to limit incoming "heathen" transmissions has failed, but effort is still underway to put that genie back in the bottle.

The Saudis are a tribal, hyper-religious, hypocritical populace that resist even 19th century norms within their tight boundaries. Muslims forbidden to drink will party happily outside the country but would be outraged to find a legal bar or nightclub in the Kingdom. Saudi men oogle women at in modest street clothes, drool over women in swimsuits, cover their ample girths with overstretched Speedos but keep "their women" literally under wraps. Saudi people will never permit the freedom of information, interaction, and social exchange common in classrooms even in the Islamic world; the concept of a Western university on Saudi terrirory is beyond comprehension.

Abdullah may found it and fund it, but will he or his successors be permitted to maintain it?
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- Report Abuse
Posted By: British Bloke @ 05/22/2008 10:16:22 AM

Several more corrections. 1) Almost all expatriates and most middle class Saudis have access to satelite TV. 2) Although there is some censorship, most websites can be accessed from within the Kingdom. 3) The correct term for the replacement of expatriaes by nationals is "Sauization", not "Sauify". 4) Far from hiding in a small enclave in the Eastern Province, Aramco and subsequently Saudi Aramco have built major facilties in most regions of the Kingdom and have been supervising the construction of schools on behalf of the government for 30-40 years. You should get someone who has spent time in the country to vet your articles before you print.