Thomas Hill teaches AUIS students Peace Building skills

By Salman Ahmed Rasul

                                                      Photo by Noor Aljanabi- AUI-S Voice 
        From left to right: Fahmi Qasem Saied, Sheikh Fuad, Othman Agha Zangana, and Hill discuss the Kirkuk issue.

The Center for Peace and Security Studies sponsored several different events during the last two weeks for Professor of New York University, Thomas Hill: two workshops about peace-building on Jan. 4 and Jan. 11, showing Pray the Devil Back to Hell movie on Jan. 9 and inviting a team of Kirkuk Council of Notables to address and discuss Kirkuk’s issue peacefully on Jan 10.

Hill is a Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, where he teaches peace-building. Hill invited officially by AUIS to be a part of these events.

“I came to AUIS officially for the first time in March 2010 and conducted a workshop that I believe was four days long,” he said.

“It really helped to introduce this idea of peace-building to students here at the university. I do not think it was an idea that most students had known about before. So, that was the primary value of it. I think it was a chance to open their minds to a new subject.”

To keep the idea of peace-building alive in students’ minds Hill decided to have a second workshop and to go deeper. According to what Hill said the workshops gave the a students chance to work more intensively on how the concepts of peace-building can be applied both in their own lives and all the way up to the international level.

“We spent time working on specific skills in peace-building, things like perspective taking, communication and conflict analysis, and really trying to understand them better,” Hill said. “Now, these skills can be put to work in pursuit of peace-building. So, the purpose was to give students the chance to work and think more deeply about the subject. And I was very happy because students came into the university during days that were holidays to do this work with me, and the number of students was not big.

But I felt the students who were there were very energetic and interested in the subject. And actually, by the end of workshop we were taking very much about working to go further to do more.”

About the main purposes of the workshops, Nathaniel L. Rosenblatt, assistant of the research centers said, “The purpose of the events is to expose students to different ideas, theories, and practices in resolving conflicts.” Rosenblatt said the Center for Peace and Security Studies has three main components: national reconciliation, post-conflict reconstruction and the national strategic initiative.

“The reason why we brought Mr. Thomas Hill from the New York University Center for Global Affairs is to be a part of that process,” Rosenblatt added. “His workshops, his panel discussion and the film were all about how you get people who dislike each other very much to start talking to each other, to start working together, to build economic freedom, social freedom, political freedom, and that is what has to happen in this country to normalize.

And how do you get to a point where you are an open and tolerant liberal democracy in a country that has been a dictatorship for thirty years.”

Another part of Hill’s journey at AUIS was addressing the Kirkuk issue by organizing a panel discussion about this matter.

“The panel discussion was intended to give students and others at the university some new knowledge about efforts that are taking place to make peace in Kirkuk,” Hill added.

“Very often people here, even though Kirkuk is not very far away from Sulaimani, people hear only about the violence that happens there.

And so this was really an effort to help students see that actually there are many people in Kirkuk who are working diligently to build peace, and in particular, the Council of Notables which consists of both tribal leaders and other prominent leaders in Kirkuk society from all of the different ethnic groups.

It is trying very hard to intervene and situations where bloodshed might occur, or prevent greater bloodshed than already has occurred. The idea really was to open people’s minds a bit to thinking about the role that community leaders and tribal leaders can play win building peace in Kirkuk and other places.”

“That was my second time taking part in peace building workshops,” Pola Kamal, 23, an academic student, from Kifri. “The more I participate, the more I become committed to

build peace. I participated in the panel discussion. It was an excited event and informed his about the members’ two-edged role in a democratic country.”

“The workshop was a golden opportunity for me, because I learn a great deal about peace building and conflict resolution which is extremely essential for us as Iraqis people, and in a broader sense to the Middle East,” said Shwan Sharey, 23, a junior international studies student, from Sulaimani.

“I hope AUIS will open a field of peace building and conflict resolution studies because according to a Global Peace Index by the Institute of Economics and Peace in 2010, Iraq is the last country which ranks 149, so, AUIS will involve making a better place for all of us. Hill said that it was the second time at AUIS to show a film about peacemaking.

The last movie he showed was about peace building process between Palestine and Israel called Encounter Point. This time the movie was about women peacemakers in Liberia, their efforts to make changes in Liberian government, ending civil war and inter-religious peacemaking because the one of the two women is Muslim and the other one is Christian.

This article first appeared on auisvoice.org 

Several officials will not continue working at AUI-S next year

By Salman Ahmed Rasul

                                                           Photo by Taha Faris- AUI-S Voice
                John Agresto, the provost of AUI-S, holds one of his black pigeons on the roof of the main building

                                                        Joshua Mitchell

                                    

The top two administrators and several other key people at AUI-S will leave this summer. John Agresto, the AUI-S provost, Joshua Mitchell, acting chancellor of the AUI-S, Mary Van Houten, registrar and director of admissions and Ryan Bubalo, deputy director of the English Writing Program and Language Institute, are among those who will leave.

Agresto for the first time in 2005 talked about the AUI-S with Barham Salih, the chairman of the AUI-S Board of Trustees and the prime minister of the KRG. “I was with Dr. Barham in 2005 when we first talked about AUI-S, and he put the Board together.”

Agresto came to the AUI-S in January of 2007. He was at that time not only the provost but also the chancellor. Mitchell came in September 2008.

“I will be here in September and October when you students come back,” Agresto said. “I want to see the new students. I want to see the new faculty. I will probably leave in October or November of 2010.”

Agresto said he would absolutely love to stay in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, but he has a family in the United States, and they cannot come to here to live with him.

“I absolutely love here,” he said. “I love the students. I love the professors and staff. I love the flowers in the yard. I love the gardener. I love everything that is here, but I have a wife at home. I have two daughters at home. I have four grandsons at home, and I love them. too.

So everybody says, do you not love it here at the AUI-S? Of course I do, but do I not love my wife, my children, and my grandchildren? Of course I do. They cannot all come out here with me. They have lives there.”

It was not an easy decision for Agresto to make between two things that he loves the most, he said. “So, I have to make a choice,” he said.

“You will find in your life that sometimes we have to make a choice. We always worry when we have to choose between two bad things. Which one do you choose? I am at the happy position. I have to choose between two good things. Sometimes choosing between two good things is even harder than choosing between two bad things.”

He said that he is going to interview someone to take his position. He thinks that the new person will be fine. He would give up everything he has to the University.

“Every thought I have I have put down here, at AUI-S,” he added. “Every idea I have I have tried to follow. Now it is time to try some people with other ideas to come and build on what I started. The students should look at this positively not negatively.”

He hopes for no major change of policy after he leaves the AUI-S, he said., adding that AUI-S will still be a liberal arts university with a two- year core program. The problem is that all of the all of the officials who are leaving are leaving about at the same time, Agresto said.

“The bad thing is not that I am going, or Dr. Josh is going, or Mary is going, or Ryan is going,” Agresto added. “The bad thing is all of us are going around the same time. That is bad, and I cannot say it is not. This is my biggest worry.”

One of his plans when he goes back to the United States is that he will look at all the pictures that he took with students and faculty.

“In years to come I am going to look at all the pictures I took of students and faculty here in AUI-S, and I wish I were back. I am going to retire. I have a little company that I started a few years ago. I am going to back to my little company. I will still go help people to set up universities.

Joshua Mitchell is another official who will leave the AUI-S. “I will be returning to Georgetown later this summer, where I will resume my teaching in the Department of Government,” he wrote in an e-mail to the Voice.

“My academic home back in the United States is Georgetown University, in Washington, DC. I August 2008 and was granted a Leave of Absence by the President of Georgetown to come to Sulaimani to help build the American University of Iraq – Sulaimani.

A great deal has happened since I arrived. Most importantly, AUI-S is now a vibrant organization, which will survive the departure of any one, or even several, of its senior members.

Even though Mitchell and Agresto are leaving AUI-S, but they will remain involved with AUI-S.

“I will, however, continue to be involved in AUI-S affairs as closely as I can be. This is one of finest educational initiatives in the world, and I am proud to be a part of it,” Mitchell said in the e-mail.

Agresto said he will remain on the Board of Trustees and return once or twice a year.

“So you will see me again,” he said,.“Maybe ,who knows ,you students want me to come back for graduation or something. That would be very nice.”

Mitchell said that they are searching for several positions, including chancellor, provost and rector—which is like a chief administrative officer. But he said, “I would encourage everyone to be patient, and not to worry. AUI-S will go on, with the leadership that it needs.”

Mary Van Houten, registrar and director of admissions, said that her contract is until the end of August, and one of the primer reasons that he makes her leave is her 17-year-old son and her family.

“I promised him I would be in the U.S. in August,” she said. “We are very close. I need to see him. My father recently died. My mother is old. I have a brother. I really like to be close to my mother; she is not very good [about long distance communication]. My father was really good. I used high-tech connection, Skype, and computers, and we e-mailed my mother.”

Ryan Bubalo, deputy director of EWPLI, said he is leaving because his contract is finished.

“Next year I will be at the University of Mississippi in the United States,” Bubalo said. “I have two classes left for my master’s degree. So I am finishing my master’s degree.”

This story first appeared on auisvoice.org 

U.S. embassy scholarships brings diversity to student body

By Salman Ahmed Rasul

14 students from outside of the Kurdish region got full five year scholarship at AUI-S sponsored by U.S.A. Embassy. The previous U.S.A. Ambassador, Christopher Hill, announced in the first MBA graduation ceremony that the U.S.A. embassy would grant $1,000,000 US to provide scholarships for 20 students.

“We awarded 14 scholarships of 20 possible,” said Timothy Doyle, the director of the admissions. “We intend on offering the rest of them next semester. The scholarship recipients are an interesting group. The next semester will be the last time to award the US State Department scholarships.”

This summer the Director of the EWPLI, Rosalind Warfield, and the Assistant to the Research Centers, Nathaniel Rosenblatt, went to Baghdad to evaluate and interview the students.

“Nate and I went to Baghdad on Sep. 28,” said Warfield.

“We interviewed the students on Wednesday and Thursday in the U.S. Embassy in two groups with the Embassy’s representative, Addie Shrader. She is the coordinator of the program for the Embassy.

Forty-five students applied, but only 27 qualified to come and take the test and be interviewed. Two of them had to come to AUI-S for the AEE test, and they both are in the academic pro- gram right now.”

The scholarships were mainly for students from southern Iraq – and therefore mostly Arab students because the U.S. Embassy wants AUI-S to have students from all the regions of Iraq.

“The U.S. State Department has offered a scholarship to incoming students from outside the KRG as an attempt to help diversify AUI-S’ student population,” said Timothy Doyle, director of enrollment and management.

“Their goal is to make our student body as diverse as possible. We have students from different places. We might even get some American students here.

The more different kinds of voices we have, the wider our experience, and the broader our education will be.” said Warfield.

“So, if we want to have a university whose goals are to educate and improve the lives of all Iraqis, then we should be encouraging all Iraqis to apply,” said Rosenblatt. “Now we are in the KRG, so not many people who are in the south of Iraq know about the university.

The goal of the scholarship is to increase the number of people talking about AUI-S outside the KRG.”

Doyle indicated that this is the American university of Iraq-Sulaimani, so it should be for all Iraqis equally. “Although I was not here when the State Department scholarship was offered, I’m speculating that the department thought that they want to help us have AUI-S reflect a wider population of Iraq.

They would do this because we are the American University of Iraq- Sulaimani, and right now we have lots of great Kurdish students, but we can attract even more for other areas,” he said.

“We hope that AUI-S will reflect as much as possible the entire Iraqi people. We do not discriminate, but if generous people wish to assist a limited set of students financially, it is up to them.

We will process their payments, but we don’t seek out sponsors for individual students or groups. If someone--says a student’s grandmother--wishes to pay for her grandchild, we have no problem with that.”

“What we are trying to do is diversify the student body,” said Warfield. “We do not have any way of letting people in the south know that we even existed, except by word of mouth from our students. It is very hard for them to even know we exist, so in this way, the Embassy did all the publicity.”

Polla Kamal, 23, from Kifri, who is an academic student, had distinct perspective about the way the scholarships were offered.

“I strongly disagree with the distinction because there is no reason for depriving the Kurdish students,” Kamal said.

“They are going through the same difficult situation as the Arab students, so both of them are deserve the scholarships. Yes, I agree that diversity is important, but they should use the same standard to judge all of the students equally.

The criteria of selecting should be applied regardless of their ethnicity; otherwise AUI-S stands against its fundamental claims.”

All of the 14 students are so exited for studying at AUI-S, and they think that they have a brighter future at AUI-S.

“I will get a better education here,” said Umniyah Nadhir Mahmood, 18, from Baghdad, and one of the 14 students. “I would like to thank the US embassy in Baghdad and AUI-S. I feel safe to put my future between their hands. I will be ready to serve the US hoping that I can repay them a small part of big help they offered for me.”

“The first reason is that AUI-S is the only university in Iraq which is accredited by the US,” said Baraa Edrees Muhammed, 23, from Samarra who is one of the 14 students.

“Second, there is a high standard of education at AUI-S.

The last reason is AUI-S gives an opportunity to the students to choose their majors. This is why I hope to achieve my goal, which is studying Civil Engineering.”

 List of the name of the students and their level of study:

Umniyah Nadhir Mahmood, Academic

Baraa Edrees Muhammed, Academic

Mohammed Abd Alasady, Level 4

Ahmed Abdul-Ameer Abdul-Hasin, Level 4

 Muhammad Emad Al_Lelo, Level 3

Ansma Mohammed Altan, Level 3

Laith Raed Alessa Level 3

Maad Waleed Hameed Level 3

Nidda Al-den Khalid, Level 2

Haneen Kasim Muhammad Level 2

Noor Saif Qasim Level 2

Wissam Essan Hadi Level 1

Enaas Basim Najim Level 1

Amal Hasin Alwan Level 1

This story first appeared on auisvoice.org 

Rector, provost share leadership responsibilities in absence of president

By Salman Ahmed Rasul

                                                                     Athanasios Moulakis

                                                    Johan Brongers

Unlike last academic year, AUI-S does not have a president or chancellor. Until quite recently, the job opportunity was still on the University’s website; anyone with qualified ability could apply for this position. In the absence of a president, the provost, Athanasios Moulakis, and the rector, Johan Brongers have divided the duties of the position. The provost is in charge of the academic side and the rector leads the administrative side.

“Until we have a president or a chancellor, the rector Mr. Brongers and I share the responsibility normally borne by the chancellor,” said Moulakis.

“Given that we operate without a chancellor to co-ordinate the academic and administrative activities of the University it is especially fortunate that the Rector and I have a very good working relationship.” It is entirely up to the Board of Trustees to hire a president.

“This is a decision that depends on the Board of Trustees,” said Moulakis.“The Board of Trustees has a procedure by which to choose a chancellor or a president. And it is not an easy process because it has to be the right kind of personality. I am sure that the Board has its reasons for having hesitated to make an appointment so far.”

According to the AUI-S Board of Trustees the reason for this issue is that the board’s set the qualification for the president is very high. “The reason of why the Board has not hired a president yet is that we have set the qualifications very high,” said Azzam Alwash, a member of the Board of Trustees, in his e-mail.

“Because we are proud of our University and we want a world class president that will be able to open doors for the University and raise the funds need to lead the University into the future. The search will continue until we find a suitable leader and we will not settle for second best.” “The main reason we have not found a President yet is that we have not found a suitable person and continue looking,” said Kanan Makiya, another member of the Board of Trustees, in his e-mail.

“Our standards are very high, and not many people in the West are willing to relocate under the circumstances. But we will succeed eventually, I am sure. As to when we will succeed that is impossible to answer.”

Not having a president doesn’t stop AUI-S from achieving. Also, the University has achieved so much in the absence of president.

“Without a president, we have been able to continue to expand and recruit facility and open new programs and even get AUI-S accredited in the US, not an easy accomplishment even with a “president” running the show,” said Alwash.

“A properly constructed organization with well trained staff filling key position need not have a “president” to be able to function smoothly and properly. At least that is true in the western world, of which AUI-S is an example.” Alwash indicated that the Board always helps the University, and he elaborated on the provost’s duty toward the University.

“Our provosts are charged with all major issues regarding academics and our board is very active in helping the provosts achieve our goals, build the new campus, raise funds for construction and operations, etc,” he added.

In the meantime, Moulakis and Brongers have a strategic plan for their responsibilities to ensure success for the University without a president.

“We will find a way to identify the right kind of personality in the context of our strategic plan,” Moulakis added. “The rector and I have been developing such a plan that will lay down the main lines of where we are, where we want to be, what it takes to get there and what we want to be. What is necessary in order to be successful? It is a comprehensive plan.

And clearly, this kind of comprehensive plan is best held together by a personality that can also represent our vision to the outside. The plan will also help consolidate what has been achieved already.

A great many admirable things have already been done. We now want to move forward by all of us agreeing what it is we want to do.

One way to put a capstone holds the whole arch of the University together is to have the right chancellor.”

This article first appeared on auisvoice.org 

Director of AUIS Research Center departs for personal, professional reasons

By Salman Ahmed Rasul

Denise Natali, Director of the AUIS Research Centers , Director of International Programs & Exchanges and an Associate History Professor at AUIS left the University on December 12, 2010, and headed to the United States to work on a big academic project.

She also said that she had to leave Iraq for some personal and professional reasons. In an exclusive interview for the AUIS Voice she said, "I am leaving for personal and professional reasons."

“My daughter and I have been here alone for five and half years," she added. "She was only five when we arrived with two suitcases on the first commercial flight from Europe to Erbil, with the larger goal of conducting research and teaching in the region. My daughter is now ten and my book, the Kurdish Quasi-State, is finished.

I think it is time for me to get my daughter into a good school and situate her near her family and her father. She has learned a lot about the life and culture of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including the Kurdish language.

Now I think she needs to learn about American culture, since she has spent all of her life in France and the Kurdistan region of Iraq, but never in the U.S.”

In terms of academics, she has several professional reasons to leave Kurdistan and head to the United States.

“Additionally, there are professional reasons why I have to leave,” Natali said. “I have committed 18 years of my life to researching and analyzing the Kurdish problem and I am likely to spend the next 30 years of my life continuing to do so, but I would like to focus now on larger policy issues outside the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.”

Natali said that she has been appointed by the Naval War College in Washington, DC to be in charge of documents captured in 2003 in Iraq to work, to research, and to analyze Baath Party documents which have not been seem before.

“I was offered an opportunity to direct the research on captured documents from the period of Saddam Hussein's regime, including his tape recorded speeches and Ba'athist records that have not yet been examined. I will write and expose some of the findings and encourage others to engage in similar research on these archives. I will also be expected to return to Iraq and the region. This is a remarkable opportunity that I could not refuse.”

She told us that her offices will continue, and Timothy Doyle, Director of Enrollment, will take over her Middle Eastern history class until the end of semester.

Natali also mentioned the growth of the AUIS. She is very optimistic about having a solid group of people and leaves her various positions under the direction of these people.

“AUIS is developing into a very sound and professional institution; the best in Iraq for sure,” she added.

“There is a very solid group of people here teaching and administering University life. The Research Centers and Office of International Programs will continue successfully with the assistance of Nate and Melanie; I am fortunate to have had both of them helping me. Mr. Timothy Doyle will assume my course in Middle Eastern History, and assure the same rigor as I did in the classroom. And most importantly, the University will continue to thrive under the leadership of Dr. Moulakis. AUIS is very fortunate to have him as Provost, as well as Mr. Johan Brongers as Rector.”

Natali would describe her time during working here at AUIS as full of challenges, gratifying and difficult time.

"I had a challenging, difficult, and gratifying time at AUIS,” she said. “The difficulties, however, have made me stronger, but have not dissuaded me from returning. I wish everyone the best of luck and success.”

This article first appeared on auisvoice.org 

The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani responds to local media

By Salman Ahmed Rasul

                                          The Academic Building of the New Campus of AUIS

Webometrics report causes confusion on universities' rankings

Since, Webometrics published a global index to rank the top 12,000 universities around the world, including several universities in Iraqi Kurdistan Region in January of 2011, local media has highlighted the rankings to prove that education quality is low in Kurdistan. The rankings are based on Internet traffic, rather than academic standards

The first person to mistake the results was Faruq Rafiq, director of the House of Wisdom (Think-Tank) in Kurdistan, when he was interviewed by KNN satellite TV station a few months ago. Other media outlets gave similar reports. Since January, media who have filed these reports include NRT, which touts itself as an independent satellite TV channel; the official website of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (kurdiu.org); and Hawlati newspaper in its May 29 edition.

The mistake comes from local press assuming it's about academic standards, rather than website visits, visibility, information on the websites and other criteria about the websites of the 12,000 universities. This is why the Webometrics ranked American University of Iraq, Sulaimani at 11,591.

Athanasios Moulakis, president and provost of AUIS, said it is foolish to use this ranking. "The so-called ranking by Webometrics has no bearing on the quality of an institution. It is a mechanical score that measures numbers of 'hits' without any information whether these hits are trivial browsing, research of the name of a football player or angry emails. It is simply fooliish to apply this 'ranking' to compare the quality of universities,” he said.

Timothy Doyle, director of the Office of Enrollment Management at AUIS, who is an expert on ranking, and is writing his doctoral dissertation on how universities gain prestige in the United States, focusing on how Emory University rose to join the ranks among the top 25 American research institutions. "The Webometrics criteria for ranking has completely nothing to do with prestige or even reputation; it's irrelevant at best for determining educational value and potentially misleading or even reputation-damaging at worst," he said. "None of the main ranking methods [that are] taken seriously -- some more than others -- give any weight whatsoever to the number of web clicks when calculating an institution's prestige. The leading American ranking system, U.S. News & World Report, admittedly generally controversial, gives zero weight to this factor, as do the next two leading world indexes, the Shanghai index, done by Jiao Tong University, and The Times Higher Education Supplement of Britain. The number of web clicks says nothing about learning outcomes or how student-centered an institution truly is."

Thomas Hill, Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs, who has been working with professors and students at universities throughout the Kurdistan Region for almost 11 years, indicated that Webometrics is true in a way. "I know there has been a recent controversy about the low ranking of AUIS by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities. Though it would be wrong to look at such rankings as definitive evaluations of the level of education that any university is providing, these rankings also are valid in terms of measuring how universities are taking advantage of the Internet to make research and other scholarly materials available to an academic audience beyond their own campuses," he said. "This is really a new twist on a very old idea about higher education -- that universities should be generating knowledge for use by the entire human species. So, what these rankings tell us is that AUIS -- and, in fact all of the Iraqi and Kurdistan universities -- are not doing a very good job of making research available to a broad audience through their websites. Some Western universities are really pioneering such efforts. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- the top-ranked university in the Webometrics study -- makes its entire curriculum available online, as well as large amounts of research materials."

On the substance of the question about the quality of research, Moulakis said AUIS is not a research institution. "I would start by saying that AUIS is not primarily a research university. It was deliberately designed as an undergraduate college, devoted to teaching and furthering the progress of its students."

Moulakis also believes local media compares apples and oranges. "The academic teachers of our university are of very high quality, and many, including myself, conduct research writing articles published in refereed scholarly journals and books published by prestigious university presses. But that is not the primary emphasis at AUIS, which is modeled on the distinguished undergraduate liberal arts colleges, such as Amherst, Swarthmore or Kenyon College, rather than on the large research universities, such as Chicago or University of California. It would be worthwhile for those who play the rankings game to look up this class of excellent institutions of higher learning, and stop comparing apples to oranges," he said.

Hill also believes a "knowledge revolution" needs to happen and the universities in Kurdistan have to learn something from Webometrics. "I believe the universities in the Kurdistan Region are immensely important in terms of developing future leaders for the Region and for all of Iraq. But there is a lesson to be learned from the Webometrics rankings. Right now, the Kurdistan universities -- the public ones, as well as AUIS and other private institutions -- are not producing enough high-quality scholarly research -- and are not succeeding in sharing what they do produce. In order for the universities here to really produce dynamic leaders for the next generation -- political leaders, business leaders and academic leaders -- there needs to be something like a knowledge revolution on all the campuses."

Director of Communications at AUIS Elia Boggia said it is wrong to use the ranking in the media. He said, "It is completely normal for a small, new university, such as AUIS, to have fewer clicks and Web traffic than other public, larger, older universities in Iraq and the world, and that's why AUIS ranks low on that particular ranking, which, again, measures Web presence, not academic quality. While only three years old, AUIS is slowly building a world-class, American-style liberal arts curriculum that is unique in the country. The ranking is not a reliable source for the media to use if they're trying to judge universities' academic quality."

Boggia also criticized local media on their professional etiquette for this issue. "I've encountered numerous hardworking, professional journalists during my time in Sulaimani who want to write about important topics and find the truth. In some cases, however, such as with articles about this ranking, there seems to be some level of laziness among a lot of so-called journalists. They report about a ranking and defame an institution just because they hear someone say it, without checking the original source: The website where the rankings are published. While many media organizations and journalists in the Kurdistan Region are very professional and thorough, I wish more of them would check the facts before publishing stories. My humble opinion is that there should be more ownership of articles that are published: journalists should feel like every article they write has a potential to enhance, or diminish, their reputation. This way, I think more journalists would be more careful to make sure the article is accurate, honest, and covers all the relevant viewpoints to make it fair and objective."

This article first appeared on Kurdishglobe.net