Category Archives: Freedom

Updated 9:10 p.m.

Two people were arrested Wednesday for involvement in one of two shootings a day earlier near Freedom Drive that Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said were connected. Three minors went to the hospital with injuries from the shooting, including a 7-year-old girl.

The arrests were in the case involving the 7-year-old, CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said.

Alvin Steele, 20, was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, among other charges. A 23-year-old man was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

A third person was in Steele's car at the time of his traffic stop and arrest, and he was charged with unrelated possession of drug paraphernalia.

Jennings said the news that a 7-year-old had been shot was particularly difficult.

"Shes in good spirits so that makes me happy," he said. "But at the same time, the frustration that she shouldnt be put in that situation in the first place. So yeah, when I see that come across my phone or when I get that phone call and we have a small child involved, thats one of the things thats hardest things to deal with as a police chief."

The first shooting occurred Tuesday afternoon on Hovis Road. CMPD says two teenagers outside of a convenience store were shot by someone in a car.

Hours later, about a mile away on Marble Street, a 7-year-old girl was hit by gunfire when suspects were shooting at each other in anapartment complex parking lot.

All three shooting victims are in stable condition.

Police believe the shootings are connected based on the close proximity of the incidents and evidence found that links them together but wouldnt go into detail as to what that evidence is. CMPD has identified "persons of interest" , but no arrests have been made.

CMPD Maj. Brian Foley said police need more witnesses to come forward with what they saw.

"I was there and I can tell you I saw a lot of community members out in their driveways on the street, looking. I know there are people in that community who know what happened and know who did it," Foley said. "Yet they do not come forward to talk to police and provide us any information to help us. CMPD cannot do this job alone. Weve got to have help."

Anyone with information can contact police by calling 911, or to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 704 334-1600.

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Arrests Made In 1 Of 2 Shootings Near Freedom Drive - WFAE

When Sahar Khalifeh was young, her family didn't support her dream of becoming a writer. They regarded art as a sin that would ultimately destroy the family's reputation.

"The word 'art' means to uneducated people, and to most semi-educated people in the Arab world, singing, acting and belly dancing," Sahar explains. "To become a singer or actress means to be exposed to people's eyes in a shameful manner."

"A woman's natural place is at home," she continues. "A decent woman is supposed to be hidden, not exposed. A decent woman should follow the rules. Mainly, a woman is supposed to get married, breed children, cook and clean and hide from real contact with real life."

Despite her conservative upbringing, Sahar went on to write two novels and then a third that was published, giving her the financial independence she needed in order to leave her husband, and as she describes, a "lousy marriage".

Today, Sahar is one of the best-known Palestinian authors and has 12 novels to her name that have been translated into multiple languages. She has won several awards, including the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature.

Sahar is from Nablus, and despite leaving to study for her MA at the University of North Carolina and then a PhD at the University of Iowa, she returned to the region and lives between Amman and Nablus. Palestine still remains at the very heart of her work.

"I am a committed writer," she says, "I have a cause. I am a Palestinian who witnessed what happened to my people and my country. I lived, and still live, under Israeli occupation. My writings reflect what I feel and think, and what my people live through. I am very politicised."

"But this does not mean that my writings are colourless or rigid," she continues. "By 'politicised', I mean that I understand my society and its problems and limitations. I also understand the occupiers' drives."

"My writing is political and artistic. Political in the sense that it deals with national politics and sexual politics. At the same time, it is full of humane characters and enjoys a high amount of humour. This is what makes good art. It should be meaningful and beautiful."

READ: 'Writing saved me from my demons,' says Palestinian author Huzama Habayeb

Sahar's latest novel released this week in English, My First and Only Love, is set during the final days of the British Mandate. The story is told through a young woman, Nidal, who falls in love with a freedom fighter, Rabie. "Women of my generation viewed freedom fighters as similar to Guevara, Castro and Mandela," recounts Khalifeh.

At the same time as navigating her feelings for Rabie, Nidal falls in love with the revolution and the struggle for Palestine, which ebbs and flows, much like her feelings for Rabie. "That's how we were two birds, lost and confused, searching for a purpose and a meaning, and loving life," reflects Nidal in the novel. "But life was too harsh and powerful. What could we do?"

The shape that these two characters carve out in the resistance against the British occupation is rounded with details inspired by interviews that Sahar carried out with older people who had lived through this moment in history. They are the forests, caves and quarries that the revolutionaries hide in, meals of prunes and goats' milk gifted by villagers, or Fairuz's velvet voice on the radio, "that helped us forget or pretend to forget what had happened yesterday and what was to come tomorrow," in the words of Nidal.

Most of the heroines in Sahar's novels are women: "The interesting thing is that we do not ask why male writers mainly write about men," remarks Sahar. "We think this is normal and natural. Why? Because we are used to the idea that men are the centre of the universe. They are the important beings, while women are secondary, they are on the periphery."

Not only are her female characters centre stage, but they are different to the women painted by the media in Europe and America. "We see how the West suffers, until now, from racism which is deeply rooted in its system," she says. "We see how America treats the Blacks and People of Colour. We also see how other Western societies, whether in Europe or Australia, treat people of different colour and different religions."

"When I read or hear how we, Arab women, are presented in Western popular culture, I feel embarrassed and sometimes furious. We are portrayed as ignorant, wrapped up creatures with hidden faces and dumb features. In my novels, I portray women as humans who suffer from different types of chains."

"Women suffer from internal and external manipulations at the same time," she continues. "They suffer from Arab patriarchy and Western colonisation and occupation. Women are victimised by both powers. Most women find it difficult, even impossible, to rebel against both powers. Ironically, Palestinian women find it easier to rebel against their Israeli occupiers than rebelling against their own men. This guides us to the conclusion that women find it easier to break external chains than internal ones."

Ghada Oueiss: 'Saudi has based its rule on the suppression of women'

All these years on from when Sahar broke her own chains and rebelled against her family, who believed that a woman's proper place was at home, her family have finally come to terms with the path she chose to take.

"When my family saw what I have done with my life, outside the regular rules, outside marriage, they were at the beginning cautious, and later on satisfied," she says. "Now they are proud of me. I don't know how to put it. They are really very proud. They consider me a great writer and artist. The word 'art' is no longer bad or shameful for them. It is glorious and beautiful."

As a young girl fighting against her parent's expectations, Khalifeh had received a letter from Palestinian art historian and writer Ismail Shammout, praising her work and encouraging her. As a frustrated housewife, she returned to read it numerous times. Has she ever written such a letter to someone else?

"Yes, I have," Sahar replies. "In fact, all my writings are letters to someone else. Whether that someone is women, leading men, educated and semi-educated readers, and hopefully outside readers. My writings manage to reach quite a large audience."

"Women love my writing; it speaks about them and for them. Highly educated men also appreciate my writings so, in a way, I am a good letter writer. When I receive letters from readers or read reviews about my writings, I feel connected. I am no longer speaking to myself. People hear me. We correspond. I am not alone."

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'Women of my generation viewed freedom fighters as similar to Guevara, Castro and Mandela' - Middle East Monitor

Sameera Reddy has lately been quite vocal about body positivity by talking about her journey of overcoming the challenges of unrealistic beauty standards.

The 42-year-old mother recently shared yet another Instagram post to talk about how she is finally in a place of pure freedom to be herself without giving in to any form of pressure to meet peoples expectations.

The former actor shared a short video clip to show her journey from the time when she had to look perfect in all her pictures to being just me.

From padded bras, coloured contact lenses, airbrushed, enhanced perfect pictures. To todays pure freedom to be myself. No judgement. No pressure. Just me, Sameera captioned the post.

Sameeras fans also took to social media to appreciate her.

Youre perfect the way you are! one user wrote.

I have soo much to learn from you! You are definitely a true representation of what self love is, and how we should all accept ourselves for who we are instead of trying to be someone else, another expressed.

Such a strong personality I (have) ever seen in social media, another social media user commented.

Sameera also shared an Instagram story recently in which she thanked people for their love. Im overwhelmed with the positive response. Thank you for wanting a real conversation, she wrote.

Sameera is quite an inspiration.

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From padded bras to pure freedom: Sameera Reddy shares inspirational post on self-love - The Indian Express

Maya Njies perfume Discovery Set (30) is a masterclass in unboxing: inside, a waxy, transparent envelope holds a booklet printed on the kind of opulent cream paper you might associate with summer weddings; family photos show scenes from 70s Sweden: children of mixed heritage playing outside a cottage, coiffed ladies in tailored twinsets, a bride and groom sipping champagne; and wrapped in their own miniature envelope are five vials of scent ranging from feral and warm toboozy and delicious. Their names are familiar and strange: Nordic Cedar, Vanilj, Les Fleurs, Tobak and Tropica. The perfumes and postcards might each be received with delight on their own; together they feel like a considered gift from a dear friend. The imagery makes people interested, says Njie from her east London studio, all cropped hair and flawless skin against a backdrop of bottles. It makes them feel something.

Njie grew up in Vsters, a small city just west of Stockholm. The youngest of three, with Gambian-Swedish parents, she remembers her and her sisters being the first mixed-heritage generation in the city an experience that instilled a sense ofotherness and an appetite to explore new territory. Aged 19, she moved to London where her love of perfume, her studies in Surface Design and memories of childhood began to come together. When she started making her own fragrances, it made sense for me to work from images when it came to smell. In 2016, she founded her eponymous perfume brand, channelling the spirit of 1970s Scandinavia with her West African heritage. Though her perfume references are specific, the feelings of nostalgia they evoke are designed to feel universal. That smell of freedom and frolicking, she says, describing her Tropica scent. For me, its connected toGambia, but it could be anywhere, for anybody, when theyre on holiday.

At a time when we are rarely in sniffing distance of each other, Njie has been touched by customers describing how her scents (90 for 50ml) have brought them comfort while living alone or missing their families. Njie has alsofound that the unique circumstances following thedeath of George Floyd last summer have brought support from the black community wanting to champion women of colour. They want to wear something they can relate to. And I think thats a new thing in the fragrance industry, she says.

The broader function of perfumery across culture and wellness is also promptingNjie to explore the role of scent inwellbeing treatments. Im interested indoing workshops with people who havedementia, she says. How can that connection betweenscent and memory help bring people back a little? Other upcoming projects explore scent in a museum setting, and an expansion into cleansing gels and creams. I see the brand being involved in so many aspects of olfaction not just fragrance, says Njie, smiling. Isee myself as something more.

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The Kudos Project: I want to bottle the smell of freedom and frolicking - Financial Times

This article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.

Four years ago, I read a book that altered the course of my career. Up to that point, Id reported regularly on faith-related legal disputes, but I hadnt thought much about the attorneys and law firms involved. I had covered the output of the Christian conservative legal movement but missed the fact that the movement existed.

Defending Faith, which was published in July 2017, changed all that. Suddenly, I was aware of how seemingly unrelated cases on abortion rights, LGBTQ anti-discrimination law and religious persecution were linked together. I saw that the attorneys I spoke with about concepts like the separation of church and state felt personally called to protect their fellow Christians and secure the future of religious freedom.

I published a story titled Serving God by suing others, which outlined what Id learned. That article, and the book that inspired it, continues to guide the way I write about religious liberty today.

Ive thought about Defending Faith especially often in the past year, as I researched and wrote about the religious freedom ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its author, Daniel Bennett, an associate professor of political science at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, was kind enough to chat with me and answer a few of the questions I keep returning to.

Its been four years now since Defending Faith was published. How has the Christian conservative legal movement evolved in that time frame?

The Trump era was kind to the Christian legal movement. Several veterans of related organizations served in positions of influence in the Trump administration, including in the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services. Since 2017, the movement has grown in influence, resources and legal successes. While the Biden administration will not be as friendly, the composition of the courts (including the Supreme Court), is very favorable to the movements goals.

Do you think the COVID-19 pandemic helped or hurt these law firms?

There have obviously been quite a few controversies involving churches challenging restrictions on gatherings, and while some cases have had more merit than others, Christian conservative legal organizations have been eager to capitalize on all of them. The University of Cincinnatis Andy Lewis and I have studied this, and weve found that these efforts may have the effect of polarizing religious freedom as a political and cultural issue, which poses real problems for the future of a holistic and healthy conception of religious liberty. So while the pandemic has tended to aid and strengthen some of these firms in their public work, there could be consequences ahead.

What else have we learned about religious freedom law during this health crisis?

I think the pandemic has taught us that, even though religious liberty is an essential freedom, it is not inviolable. Where states have crafted reasonable restrictions treating church gatherings like comparable nonchurch gatherings, there havent been many successful legal challenges. Its where governments have inexplicably treated churches different from other sorts of mass gathering spaces that you see the courts siding with Christian legal groups and their clients.

I think the pandemic has also reinforced the idea that religious freedom is a major cultural flashpoint. Its exposed (or maybe emphasized) a lot of partisan and religious divisions on religious freedom claims. Its now clear, for example, that if youre a Democrat who doesnt go to church, youre going to have very different views about government restrictions on religious gatherings than a Republican who attends church weekly.

Lets end on a lighter note. If you had to recommend a book, TV show, podcast or movie to someone who likes religion news, what would you recommend?

Im a big fan of The Good Place. It tackles a lot of fundamental philosophical questions in clever and (really) funny ways. And one of my favorite podcasts is Young Adult Movie Ministry, which is kind of like a film criticism podcast through a (somewhat jaded) Christians lens. Recent episodes have covered serious films like Silence and First Reformed, but the shows also tackled the Gods Not Dead franchise and stuff from Kirk Cameron. I learn a lot, but I laugh a lot, too.

As part of my ongoing coverage of LGBTQ rights and religious freedom, I wrote an article last week about which Americans are most likely to oppose adding sexual orientation and gender identity-based protections to federal civil rights law.

Mikdash meat is a Hebrew phrase meaning small sanctuary, which is sometimes used to refer to a home. I learned this fact in a story my colleague Mya Jaradat wrote for Passover about the role of the home in Jewish life. Rabbis explained to her that, for Jews, the home is treated like a sanctuary since its the site of so many important rituals, including the Passover Seder.

Across the country, shrinking congregations are struggling to decide what to do with church buildings that seem too big and too expensive to keep. In New York City, religious leaders, land use experts and city planners have joined forces to help houses of worship in their area with that decision. They wrote a book outlining how to avoid selling a church building by doing things like renting it out to other organizations and selling the air rights above it, according to The City.

On a related noted, for the first time in 80 years, a Gallup survey on church membership has found that fewer than half of Americans belong to a house of worship. For much of the 20th century, around three-quarters of U.S. adults described themselves as a member of a church, synagogue or mosque.

Ryan Burge, who is both a pastor and a political scientist, recently published a new book on the rise of religiously unaffiliated Americans, called The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are and Where They Are Going. I read the whole thing in one morning and felt it was a thoughtful reflection on the state of American religion. The Deseret News recently published an excerpt from the book.

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COVID-19 and the future of religious freedom - Deseret News

Posted: Mar 30, 2021 / 08:30 PM CDT / Updated: Mar 30, 2021 / 03:11 PM CDT

(WTVO) Do average Americans feel pressure from cancel culture? A new study suggests so.

As exclusively reported by The Hill, a new poll released by the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard and The Harris Poll, 64% of Americans view cancel culture as a threat to freedom.

The survey also found 54% of respondents were concerned that they could be banned from social media or fired from their job for expressing their opinions online. 46% said they were not concerned.

It is a chilling finding that most people in the country now are afraid they would be fired if they expressed their real views on social media, saidMark Penn, the director of the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey.

The public generally gives negative ratings to social media companies and sees the movement as more about censorship rather than trying to correct wrongs. It is growing as a national issue, he added.

Only 13% of the participants said they did not consider cancel culture to be a problem, with 32% calling it a moderate problem and 20% said it was a small problem.

Merriam-Webster defines cancel culture as the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.

A total of 1,945 registered voters participated in the study.

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Is cancel culture a threat to freedom? Poll says 64% of Americans think so - wreg.com

Another force Colley identifies was the spread of new communication technologies (the pen). (Here Colleys work echoes that of the great scholar of nationalism, Benedict Anderson.) During the early modern period in Europe, literacy expanded while the cost of publication decreased, leading to an explosion of newspapers, pamphlets and books. These made it much easier for reformers to exchange ideas with one another and with mass audiences. As Colley puts it, the growing ease of communication made it possible for men and women and not just in the West to become better and more regularly informed about political personalities and projects in different parts of the world. It became easier for people to compare and contrast conditions, including political conditions, in different countries and continents.

Interestingly, Colley shows that early constitutions were not simply the result of demands from below. Rather, increasingly aware of and influenced by Enlightenment ideas, rulers like Catherine II of Russia, Frederick of Prussia and Gustaf III of Sweden wrote constitutions in order to signal their modern status to their people and to one another. And in another reflection of the influence of the new communication technologies, these rulers often custom-made their proclamations for print reproduction and had them translated into different languages so they could be easily disseminated at home and abroad.

Which brings us to the final, interlocking force identified by Colley: globalization (the ship). Accompanying new communication technologies was the growing ease of travel. As is the case today, these forces combined to facilitate the spread of new ideas. And since, as Colley notes, it is easier to borrow than invent, the ability of political elites and intellectuals in South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East to learn about constitutions in Europe, the United States and elsewhere as well as to travel to these places contributed to a contagion of constitution-making beginning in the mid-19th century.

The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen stresses that constitution-makers in non-Western places did not merely copy existing constitutions but rather adapted them to their own regions particular needs. As Colley says, the growing ease of communication and travel meant that constitution-makers across the globe could study and select between ideas, institutions and laws set out in an expanding print array of different countries constitutions. They could then meld and combine the borrowings of their choice with their own ideas, aspirations and legal and political conventions. Unfortunately, despite the geographical breadth of The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen, Colley fails to explain how constitutions changed across time and space. At one point, for example, she states that between 1776 and 1850 the most oft-mentioned constitutional rights were freedom of the press and religion. Was this still the case in the late 19th and 20th centuries? Did countries or regions differ systematically in the type of rights included in their constitutions? Such questions are left unanswered.

Nonetheless, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen has important lessons for anyone interested in political development today. One is the value of taking a long-term perspective when trying to understand contemporary events. Colley demonstrates that even failed attempts at implanting constitutions often had important consequences. For instance, she shows that in many cases of successful constitution-making, reformers built upon previous efforts and learned from the mistakes their predecessors made.

Colley also reminds us of how revolutionary and inspirational constitutions were and still are. Constitutions let people define and delineate power, to shape the way governance occurs and authority is exercised in their countries. At a time when many are questioning the future of democracy, it is worth remembering how important and precious these things are. At the end of The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen Colley recounts some words of Thomas Jeffersons that are particularly apt today: Tho written constitutions may be violated in moments of passion or delusion, yet they furnish a text to which those who are watchful may again rally & recall the people.

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Why Constitutions Are the Safeguards of Freedom - The New York Times

People have been having debates sometimes arguments with friends, family, coworkers and strangers about the personal responsibility of wearing a mask and getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

Heated conversations are also unfolding around guns following two back-to-back mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado. Opinions emerging from these debates often touch upon personal freedoms, liberty and responsibility as Americans living in a democracy.

These themes continue to surface as Americans grapple with what individuals responsibilities are to each other while also enjoying personal liberty, linguist George Lakoff says.

Liberty comes through legitimate authority, usually through political authority. The question then is, if you have liberty in that way, do you have responsibilities to other people who have liberty? That is, you're not free to limit other people's freedom, and that's a very important idea, he says.

While Americans have First Amendment speech, an individual cant yell fire into a crowded theater, for example. And with the Second Amendment, Americans have the right to bear arms but arent allowed to shoot people.

But personal freedoms and liberty through the context of Amendment rights is a nuanced concept.

We're equipped to understand it simply, intuitively, because democracy requires empathy, Lakoff says. ... Without empathy, without the very idea of caring about other people, there can be no notion of democracy.

That means the definition of liberty is not the same as freedom, he says. Liberty, a political notion, has to do with a legitimate authority imposing a freedom within a range of the laws given by that legitimate authority, he explains, while freedom is sort of neutral.

Politicians often use the language of freedom and liberty to suit their goals, whether it be masks, guns or many other divisive topics. Republicans in general tend to talk more about freedom than liberty, Lakoff says.

Last month, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke to conservatives about taking a hands-off approach to the pandemic.

We are in an oasis of freedom in a nation thats suffering from the yoke of oppressive lockdowns,' DeSantis said. We look around in other parts of our country, and in far too many places, we see schools closed, businesses shuttered and lives destroyed.

DeSantis use of oppressive lockdowns means the governor is pushing a narrative that public health measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus are oppressive to people and companies who dont care about whether or not they are contributing to the dangers of COVID-19, Lakoff says.

The effect is to say that a government that cares about its people is not legitimate. That's the effect, he says. It says that people are free, independent of what its government says about taking care of the health and well-being of the people at large.

Liberals approach the language of freedom and liberty very differently, he says.

For example, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer commented last week on legislation that's been proposed to restrict access to guns following the recent shootings.

We cannot seem to finish grieving one tragedy before another takes place. It's a reminder that we must confront a devastating truth in the United States an unrelenting epidemic of gun violence steals innocent lives with alarming regularity, Schumer said.

Schumer is clearly saying no, no one should be able to go out and buy an AR 15-type weapon, Lakoff says. At one time, assault weapons were banned thanks to the work of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 1994, but the legislation expired and wasnt renewed due to congressional Republicans who were supported by gun manufacturers, he says.

When American virtues such as liberty and freedom were being debated by the countrys founders, semi-automatic weapons werent even conceptualized. At the time, rifles had to be hand stuffed with a round, gunpowder-filled bullet that could only fire one shot, Lakoff says.

It seems like no matter the debate, productive conversations on liberty and freedom are difficult to have when contention is sewn into the politics of the U.S. Lakoff says theres no real way around it when one national party takes such a strong stance in one direction.

Lynn Menegonproduced and edited this interview for broadcast with Tinku Ray. Serena McMahon adapted it for the web.

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The Intersection Of Freedom And Responsibility During Pandemic, After Mass Shootings - Here And Now

Ashoka Universitys reputation as a world-class liberal arts university has been dented by Prof Pratap Bhanu Mehta: His media columns highly critical of the BJP proved very inconvenient for those running Ashoka. Former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian also resigned from the faculty, saying Ashoka could no longer protect academic freedom. Students went on strike, and 150 academics worldwide condemned Ashoka.

That is a tragedy, but the big issues of higher education go far beyond Ashoka or Mehta. Five years ago, I was with a group of journalists in Kolkata covering the last state election. At a meeting with top academics, they castigated CM Mamata Banerjee for destroying academic standards. They said not only seats in good colleges but also academic posts were being sold for cash, and critics were being victimised. Todays Ashoka controversy reminds me eerily of that episode.

Despite her high-handed tactics, Mamata won that election with a massive majority. Narendra Modi also won a massive majority in the 2019 general election despite a much-criticised crackdown on dissenting students at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Aligarh Muslim University, and arresting academic critics under laws on sedition and unlawful activities laws. When the electorate cares so little about freedom in universities, politicians are unlikely to change their increasingly illiberal attitude.

Many years ago, I participated in a World Bank course to improve academic and media analysis of state budgets. While the central budget was thoroughly and expertly discussed by the media and academics, state budgets were not. So, the Bank invited state university academics to write papers on their states budget.

The quality of the papers and discussion that followed was abysmal. Why? One state professor told me, Our promotions and prospects depend entirely on our relations with top politicians and bureaucrats. It does not depend on our research papers or budget analysis. So why should we bother? No wonder the quality of college education is so poor.

I had hoped that private sector, non-profit universities like Ashoka would establish global standards without sucking up to politicians. I was wrong.

Mehta says his resignation was forced by political pressure. Ashokas founders deny this. But even if there was no overt pressure, businessmen and other donors fear antagonising the government, and will, without any political orders, distance themselves from institutions universities, journals, TV channels, NGOs connected with strident Modi critics.

Mehta was hired as an asset to Ashoka. But in recent years the trustees indicated to Mehta he had become a liability, that angry donors were withholding donations. I think Mehta should have said, so what? He and Subramanian should have fought their battles within the university and dared the trustees to sack them.

That is now in the past. The bigger problem is the fate of universities who till now viewed Ashoka as a model to emulate. This model is highly dependent on donors for the huge funding required to attract world-class faculty with world-class salaries, provide scholarships for 65% of students and expand fast.

This model carries the risk of sudden stops in donations. No one should be surprised that business donors want to distance themselves from a university whose best-known staff fulminate against the government in columns and TV appearances. Some donors are fervent Modi admirers. Others fear political retribution.

Such fears go back decades. When businessmen are asked to rate the budget on TV on budget day, virtually none rate it less than 8 out of 10, regardless of which party is in power. They know that an honest answer carries political risks. Speaking truth to power does not help. Sucking up does.

Those running Ashoka University are trying to salvage the situation. To re-establish a reputation for academic freedom, Ashoka is thinking of creating internal firewalls to check external pressures on the faculty, and an ombudsman to settle disputes.

But this will not solve the problem of donations drying up, leaving Ashoka without funds for staff, scholarships and ambitious expansion plans. The answer is to lessen dependence on business donors.

Having 15 business donors may look like diversification, but does not diversify outcomes: All 15 can stop donations simultaneously. The donor base should be expanded to non-business foundations, foreign donors, alumni donations and crowdfunding.

Reducing dependence on business donations also means cutting ambitions and costs. Cut salaries, reduce scholarships from 65% to say 40%, slash ambitious expansion plans. Use distance learning to cut costs. This may dismay Ashokas founders, who wish to quickly establish an Indian version of Harvard or Oxford. But it needs a better model to navigate stormy seas in Indian conditions.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

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Donors and academic freedom: Given stormy seas in todays India, funding must be diversified beyond a few bu - The Times of India Blog

by: Dan Eaton | Columbus Business First

Freedom Cafe (Image courtesy Columbus Business First)

COLUMBUS (COLUMBUS BUSINESS FIRST) Freedom a la Carts business is getting bigger so its mission can get bigger.

The Columbus social enterprise, which has spent the last 10 years helping survivors of human trafficking, willopen its Freedom Cafat 123 E. Spring St. on April 5, giving the organization its first customer-facing retail space, expected to create new opportunities and revenue.

This creates more opportunities for employment, more positions, more skills, CEO Paula Haines said. This makes it easier for the community to support us; itll raise our profile.

Freedom a la Cart employs 27 and expects to grow to between 30 and 35 by year-end. The business started as a food cart, but built a catering and box lunch business in a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and started a Freedom at Home prepared meal business.

All that work moves into the two-story, 7,500-square-foot building on Spring Street, which is now the home for all of Freedom a la Carts operations. The bakery will run on the first floor. The second floor is the Freedom Loft, which includes space for counseling and education. There are kitchens on both floors and event space that can be rented out to the public another new source of revenue.

Add all that up and Haines said the business could generate $1 million in revenue this year. Thats more money for the mission.

While much of the training has been kitchen, catering and back-of-house duties, the caf creates customer service and front-of-house opportunities.

Haines said they hope to help 600 women through the new location with employment, training, education and counseling.

Covid really opened our eyes to some needs, Haines said.

New programs developed in the past year including housing and utility assistance and a savings matching program.

Freedom a la Cart, like many, saw its revenue drop in 2020 due to the pandemic, but Haines said it wasnt as bad as first feared. Sales were down 23% versus expectations, but only were off 10% from 2019.

She credited the prepared meal program for helping that. The caf only solidifies the organization more.

When we were working on the menu, we wanted something that would check the box for everyone, said Social Enterprise Director Carissa Martin. There are some bold, intense flavors that were really excited to show off.

Health-focused or indulgent, the caf hopes to feed a wide swath of customers. Itll be a breakfast and lunch operation plenty of baked goods too with hours from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. It will be closed Sundays.

The projects received assistance from a number of notable Columbus entities and culinary individuals including:

Look to the menu for one final notable nod of acknowledgement. The Dont Judge Me sandwich was created in honor of retired Judge Paul Herbert who created the CATCH Court (Changing Actions to Change Habits) in 2009 to identify and assist human trafficking survivors.

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How Freedom a la Carts new downtown cafe will help expand its reach - NBC4 WCMH-TV