UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE VESTIGES OF GLORY: IRAQ’S UNIVERSITIES AND FEMALE STUDENTS IN THE MIDST OF TYRANNY, SANCTIONS AND WAR A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE COLLEGE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By ERIN TAYLOR WEATHERS Norman, Oklahoma 2006 UMI Number: 3237517 UMI Microform 3237517 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 VESTIGES OF GLORY: IRAQ’S UNIVERSITIES AND FEMALE STUDENTS IN THE MIDST OF TYRANNY, SANCTIONS AND WAR A Dissertation APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY STUDIES BY _________________________________ Dr. Rosa Cintron, Chair _________________________________ Dr. Jerome C. Weber _________________________________ Dr. David L. Tan _________________________________ Dr. J. Thomas Owens, Jr. _________________________________ Dr. Muna Naash © Copyright by ERIN TAYLOR WEATHERS 2006 All Rights Reserved. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgements are difficult to compose as such brief words hardly encompass the gratitude one feels. The following persons merit special distinction. Dr. Rosa Cintron nurtured my professional development with keenness and generosity, often recognizing my potential before I did. Dr. J. Thomas Owens, Jr. was instrumental in my studies of comparative higher education and granted me the amazing opportunity to work at the Al Sharaka Program for Higher Education in Iraq. Dr. Jerome C. Weber and Dr. David Tan demonstrated unflagging patience with my evolving research interests. And Dr. Muna Naash, as well as her husband Dr. Muayyad al-Ubaidi, extended the gracious hospitality Iraqis are known for during my dissertation year. I am also grateful to the Adult and Higher Education Program at the University of Oklahoma, especially staff members Trudy Rhodes and Shirley Hodges and Professor Robert Fox. Dr. John and Joyce Warren were champion well wishers. I also extend appreciation to Iraq’s Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Beriwan Khailany and Dr. Abdul Satter Jawad of the University of Baghdad for sharing their experiences and insights with me. Thank you to the bounty of women whose stalwart friendship helped me persevere – Tammy Boyd, Jennifer Nelson, Jennifer Bishop, Ovia Foreman, Katherine Garlough and Dorothy Weathers. My ally in navigating studenthood and motherhood was Stephanie Griffith who always understood why my backpack contained as many diapers as textbooks. And, of course, Susie Goodnight, gatekeeper of my sanity and the model for what best friends should be. My father and grandpapa imbued me with a love of history and a strong enough will to complete this endeavor. I hold dear my two sisters, Logan and Evelyn, who always believed in me. My grandmother showered me with blessings, confident I could manage both raising young children and dissertation writing. Mom’s validation, ever present, sustained me in darker moments. Her insistence that I not turn away from others’ suffering has served me well. And my mother-in-law and mentor, Martha – you are missed. Any accolades I may one day receive will pale in comparison to my children: Gwyneth, Ian and Henry. They were, to quote Ian, equally committed to Mommy “writing her irritation.” I thank my youngest, Henry, for teaching me to grow in grace when we feel broken and to Gwyneth, Mom’s most loving cheerleader. Ned, your tremendous sacrifices made this possible. Finally, I must thank my eight teachers in Iraq, women chose to speak truths despite their endangered circumstances: Azhar, Mayyada, Linda, Nedal, Nidhal and her daughters Shayma and Wasna, and, of course Ghaida – shukran, salaam. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv ABSTRACT vii CHAPTER ONE Focus and Context 1 Introduction 1 Background 2 Focus of Study 5 Previous Studies on Iraqi Women and Iraq’s Education System 8 Significance of Study 11 Overview of Iraq’s Higher Education System 15 Historical Overview on the Status of Iraqi Women 20 Study Structure 24 Biases 25 CHAPTER TWO The Mirage and the Menace of the Baathist University: 28 1979-2003 Managing Higher Education 32 The Universities of Baghdad, Basra and Technology 35 Baath Ambitions for Higher Education 39 Saddam: Imagined Scholar 43 Undergraduate and Graduate Standards 49 Cronyism, Hypocrisy and Foul Play 57 Conclusion 62 CHAPTER THREE Rhetoric and Realities for Iraqi University Women: 63 1980-2003 Civil Society and Women’s Opportunities in Saddamist 65 Society University Women in 1980’s Iraq 75 Nidhal’s Experience: Student and Student Parent 79 The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) 81 The First Gulf War 87 Sanctions and the Dispossessed Generation 89 Conclusion 100 vi CHAPTER FOUR Nominal Allies and Actual Insurgents: Universities 102 In Contemporary Iraq Student Resilience 103 “Liberated Iraq” 106 Professional Iraqi Women and Islam Today 112 Social Engagements for University Women 115 CPA Efforts to Rehabilitate Iraqi Universities 116 Military Interactions with Students and on Campus 120 University Wastelands 122 Radicalizing the Campus 128 Executing Intellectuals 130 Contemporary Student Life 135 Extorting Orthodoxy on the University Campus 140 Case in Point: The University of Basra 144 Damage Assessments 147 CHAPTER FIVE Remembering the Future 151 MOHE and University Leadership Strategic Planning 153 Exposing Academics and Students to their Scholarly Purpose 156 Developing Student Services and Activities 160 University Women Advocating for Change 164 Alumni and Donor Recruitment 169 The Opportunities and Obligations Before Us 173 REFERENCES 177 APPENDIX A The Method of Study 187 Timeframe of Study 187 Salient Methodology 187 Overview of Historiographic Method and Documentary 188 Research Documentary Sources: Classification and Evaluation 189 Data Sources 192 Pertinent Definitions 193 Interviews of Iraqi Women 194 The Truth about Realities and the Realities of Truth 199 Study Limitations 202 Researcher’s Background 204 APPENDIX B Significant Events in Modern Iraqi History 207 APPENDIX C Sampling of Interview Questions 210 APPENDIX D IRB Documentation 213 APPENDIX E Acronyms 215 APPENDIX F Expertise of Scholarly Sources 216 vii ABSTRACT This historical dissertation examines the intersectionality of sanctions, war and autocratic rule as it manifested itself on Iraqi university campuses and, more specifically, the impact on female students. While much has been written on Iraq, we have yet to understand the academic, personal and professional toll it took on university students between the onset of the Saddam regime in 1979 and 2005, three years after the Allied Invasion. This is a unique opportunity to study a higher education system that once held an esteemed regional reputation and is now greatly eroded. Our ability to generate historical research on this population enhances our knowledge of the role political and economic events play on university campuses. The historical method was employed in this dissertation and expanded upon by Iraqi women’s narratives. Primary and contextual sources were collected, coded and reconstructed thematically and chronologically. Findings included increasing obstacles and restrictions placed on academic freedom and women’s higher education opportunities as the regime increased its power. Iraqi women reported that the decade of sanctions was the most damaging to their college learning but that current civil unrest and rising Islamist factions are greatly hindering their ability to achieve academic goals. The intersectionality of three wars (First Gulf, Iran-Iraq and Second Gulf Wars), shifting Saddamist law concerning women’s rights, and international sanctions diminished women’s learning, social and professional engagements at Iraqi universities. Efforts to rehabilitate Iraqi higher education must include international partnerships, expatriate alumni participation, gender integration and authentic student advocacy opportunities. 1 CHAPTER ONE Focus and Context Introduction Iraq’s higher education system was once a shining jewel in the Middle East.1 Jointly imbued with ancient Mesopotamian heritage and Arabic scholarship, Iraqi universities prided themselves on their academic standards, western trained faculty and rapidly growing student population. At the onset of the Saddam Hussein regime in 1979, the government aggressively pursued further higher education objectives as well as political, social, and economic access for women. Saddamist rhetoric encouraged women to persist in their educational and career goals and several laws were enacted to protect these burgeoning opportunities. Unfortunately for these women, Saddam was both fair- weather and ruthless. As Iraq suffered through the Iran-Iraq War (1981-1988), First Gulf War (1991), UN imposed sanctions (1991-2003) and affiliated air strikes, it became a totalitarian state ruled by terror and dominated by chronic deprivation. When the United States and allied nations deposed Saddam in the Second Gulf War (2003), conditions only worsened in Iraq. Amidst this quarter century of devastation, more than twenty Iraqi universities continued serving students, including thousands of Iraqi women. The story of Iraqi students, who refused to give up on the promise of higher education, has yet to be told. This dissertation restories how university students, especially women, experienced deprivation, foreign occupation,