Doesn't matter who started it, BoR should end it. NOW.

Hate to point out the obvious, but none of the degrees & research over there remotely rebate to anything nuclear.

The Muslim brotherhood mentioned in the article was crushed by Trump.

This is all BS propaganda

Bocephus said:

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Hate to point out the obvious, but none of the degrees & research over there remotely rebate to anything nuclear.

The Muslim brotherhood mentioned in the article was crushed by Trump.

This is all BS propaganda

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Agree. A massive nothing burger.

Matter of fact, spreading our Universities and ways of thinking into the world is not a bad thing.

Would you rather Chinese universities and think tanks be sprung up in the Middle East? You want next generation Qataris, Saudis, Omanis, Kuwaitis to think and be like Americans.

A&M's president has issued a statement on the situation. This was a hit job against our university and so many of you like LMCane and others fell for it hook, line and sinker.

The comments that HoneyBadger posted I am very sure are legitimate and he would certainly know more than me on the subject. It doesn't surprise me though. Qataris, Emiratis, Kuwaitis are notorious for exploiting their wealth to gain access and privilege is something they do without shame. I believe that some of the families there have high expectations of their children and push them to be good citizens an responsible people. Many other families, however, protect their kids from any repercussions of their abhorrent behavior and ensure that they always have the finest things in life even though they've never actually accomplished anything themselves other than being born right (sound familiar?!?!?). I do understand that Emiratis requiring their young men to serve in the UAE military has fostered a sense of responsibility and discipline that many in the country just do not have.

Below is the statement from A&M......

President Welsh shares a message regarding some recent inaccuracies and misinformation you might have seen online about Texas A&M University and our campus in Qatar.

Read the full note here: https://t.co/VJcjRPDLnR pic.twitter.com/YRl6O06SQq

— Texas A&M University 👍 (@TAMU) January 7, 2024

LMCane said:

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Germans in the 1930s were pretty friendly people to the Swiss they were doing business with.

but sure, let's not look at the RULING GOVERNMENTS of any country, let's just see if they are "nice" or "good negotiators" to determine our national interest.

you know who else are "good negotiators"?

Iranians

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The Swiss is where my mind goes when I think of Qatar. Kind of in the middle of the action, taking money from all sides, neutral, and really not a good faith actor for either side of the "war".

Don't think the statement says much to alleviate criticisms in this thread. I personally don't go for "hey, we're 1 of 6 universities here" (everybody's doing it!) or "we comply with laws." Legal compliance is a minimum expectation and does not reflect the standard which Aggie's hold one another accountable.

What is a Qatar students ability to take nuclear engineering coursework from the main campus? Should be zero.

Why is this a priority? Who decided to embark on this course of action and why?

The poster on this thread that brought first hand criticism of the operation itself, so on top of educating an enemy country we are devaluing our degree and our reputation.

"Aggies don't lie, cheat or steal", we just partner with terrorist supporting countries and give the information to them directly.

Aggie Honor Code intact… kind of.

A lot of money corrupts a lot.

Absolutely no reason other than $ for a public university of the State of Texas to maintain a campus out of state, much less out of country, and especially in a hostile part of the world. We are being bought off, kinda like FJB. Some things are not for sale.

BCG Disciple said:

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Looks good on her.

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Needs a suicide vest.

William K. Klingaman said:

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"Aggies don't lie, cheat or steal", we just partner with terrorist supporting countries and give the information to them directly.

Aggie Honor Code intact… kind of.

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We?

I can assure everyone, the Aggie honor code is a complete facade in Qatar. It's non-existent and if you abide by it, you'll be pushed out. They won't let anything or anyone threaten their financial situation. Both as a branch campus, and the vast majority of staff and faculty that work there.

Thanks for the post. My question is, why does Qatar want A&M over there anyway? They pay A&M, we rubber stamp engineering degrees, they don't actually learn the course work.

Then what happens? Of course the obvious answer is that they just go join local companies and don't do anything. But why is A&M the paid patsy to facilitate this? I always thought A&M's name was a fish out of water when hearing the list of universities over there.

TheHoneybadger said:

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I can assure everyone, the Aggie honor code is a complete facade in Qatar. It's non-existent and if you abide by it, you'll be pushed out. They won't let anything or anyone threaten their financial situation. Both as a branch campus, and the vast majority of staff and faculty that work there.

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A&M gets plenty of federal dollars, you think the federal govt abides by any part of the Aggie Code of Honor

one MEEN Ag said:

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Thanks for the post. My question is, why does Qatar want A&M over there anyway? They pay A&M, we rubber stamp engineering degrees, they don't actually learn the course work.

Then what happens? Of course the obvious answer is that they just go join local companies and don't do anything. But why is A&M the paid patsy to facilitate this? I always thought A&M's name was a fish out of water when hearing the list of universities over there.

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Our Petroleum department has always had a number of Arab students for obvious reasons. They have also added a decent sized chemical industry over the last few decades which requires ChemE. Every modern economy needs Electrical and Mechanical engineers. This allows their students to get a degree in country vs coming to the US to get it. I assume this is also a point of pride in the Arab community.

Qataris want the TAMU brand so they have more status and recognition, but they do not like accountability or work. Years ago there was talk of adding "at Qatar" to the degree, so that graduates would have "Texas A&M University at Qatar" printed on the actual paper, but Qatar said absolutely not. Because they know it waters down the degree and they want the full package of "wasta" that they know that degree includes. Imagine getting into a TAMU engineering program, cheating and floating your way into graduation with grade changes and bending rules, laughing about it, and then graduating with a degree from TAMU in engineering. Then enjoying the reputation and privilege that comes along with that degree, while TAMU cashes checks and claims they are "making impact in the region." Qatar hires expats for almost everything.

Academic services at TAMUQ is run by the most incompetent people who make money hand over fist, and the academic integrity reflects that. They are academic politicians that have no business in the positions they are in. The people who run the department are not qualified and got the jobs by falling into it. Heck, one guy was brought there just to do student assessment and ended up in charge of Academic Services and Student Affairs, just because the higher-ups didn't want to deal with it. His boss, who never worked at all with any level of academic services, got his job because he has a terminal degree in engineering. The person that works for them is an utter moron and got where they are because of butt-kissing. Good people quit because they can't take it anymore and the trash rises. No exaggerating anything here, how TAMUQ works is quite something to see and understand. People with no skills and no knowledge of running academic departments, put in charge of all of it, at multiple levels. That's how the campus works.

I believe Qatar Foundation actually asked tu first and they turned them down. Qataris are in a massive minority by population. They import everything. Restaurants and stores and worker bees. They love control. They live in a bubble that the rest of the world knows nothing about and are among the largest hypocrites you'll ever meet. Money means absolutely nothing to Qataris, and the world funds it.

I, and many people who know what I know, are absolutely appalled at what goes on at TAMUQ. I wish our university would pull out of the region, but realistically lost hope of that years ago.

https://texags.com/forums/16/topics/3443233

You are more influential than you've let on.

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

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Courtesy Flush said:

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45-70Ag said:

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The relationship between A&M and Qatar only benefits Qatar. It should be ended.

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I don't know. I spend a lot of time in the Middle East and used to travel to Doha frequently. I think that having an A&M campus there benefits the A&M system as it graduates Aggies that have loyalty to the university and increases awareness of A&M.

I think we sometimes are all guilty of associating the actions of a government with the beliefs of its people. I have done business with many Qataris and while I do find them to be quite hard negotiators, I also find them friendly towards and eager to do business with Americans.

I've always taken the position that if the US government does not want me or my employer doing business in a certain country, sanction or ban it to prevent me from doing business there and I will comply without reservation. Otherwise, I am not going to be critical of a US company (or a university) for doing business in a country where the government makes decisions that I do not agree with.

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Doubt if they are true Aggies. Quatar helps Hamas. Why would anyone do business with them?

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Who decides what a "true Aggie" is? You?

the people of a country are not their government. Don't make sweeping generalizations of the Qatari people because of the government's friendliness toward Hamas.

did the new A&M president just have his "Bjork" moment?

put out a statement a month ago that "everything is fine"

then 30 days later the BoR pulls the plug

W said:

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did the new A&M president just have his "Bjork" moment?

put out a statement a month ago that "everything is fine"

then 30 days later the BoR pulls the plug

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Not at all. The insinuations were completely false and he responded appropriately. However, it was about time they realized that the Qatar campus was not worth the headaches that it caused.

BQ_90 said:

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TheHoneybadger said:

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I can assure everyone, the Aggie honor code is a complete facade in Qatar. It's non-existent and if you abide by it, you'll be pushed out. They won't let anything or anyone threaten their financial situation. Both as a branch campus, and the vast majority of staff and faculty that work there.

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A&M gets plenty of federal dollars, you think the federal govt abides by any part of the Aggie Code of Honor

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I think it would be the degrees we are allowing with the A&M name on it that would be the issue.

struggling a bit with a tamu q lifer complaining about how awful things are there and saying

Quote:

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If you work there and you do not play the game, they will squeeze you out.

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while being one of the people who obviously hasnt gotten squeezed out and is therefore playing the game pretty well!

TheHoneybadger said:

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Without going into too much detail about myself, I have worked at TAMUQ for years. Actually over a decade. I will tell you that the students are not loyal Aggies, they are mostly there to get the degree that makes their family happy. In Qatar it is all about "wasta" and how your individual and family image is. Most Qataris are power hungry and most people I know hate living in Qatar.

They have 4 undergraduate degrees and the cheating there (with full knowledge of the university officials) is VERY abundant. Graduates are dragged across the finish line to make their target graduation rates. I have seen students on probation for 6-8 semesters in a row. Admissions is directed to let in a majority amount of Qataris, while ignoring many qualified students. Qataris who literally failed pre-cal 3 times. Yes, there are a minority of good students there. The academic waivers and overrides given to the students is insane, and they will use semantics to get it done. Just phrase things a certain way and magically you can get around student rules and departmental policies. You can literally be deported for ticking off the wrong Qatari at any time. Whether in a mall or on campus.

Everyone who works at TAMUQ makes gobs of cash. Faculty are insufferable with few exceptions. Most are incompetent people who are literally there for the gigantic paycheck, but play the politics game. People who would make $45,000 on main campus pull $125,000 or more. I know one person that makes over $300,000 annually in salary and allowances and they are absolute trash. I cannot divulge too much, but even if you go search their publicly listed salaries, the information is lower than the real checks. They get a salary premium (in most cases 30%), housing allowance (choice of provided housing or cash allowance), car allowance in cash, and flight allowance in cash. Every month.

I know professors that take 3-4 weeks vacation right in the middle of the semester, no one says a word or it leads to a minor slap on the wrist. Many are lazy and do not want to "work" so they will just have class "discussions" and award A's. Most profs there are not from TAMU and have never even been to main campus. The Admissions department are all people who know nothing of real Aggies and are not even from the USA. So every student that gets accepted into the branch campus (who gets the Aggie ring and degree identical to main campus) is chosen by people who have no business selecting those students for admission.

I could write a novel, but in general, Qataris rule the roost in Doha. Qatar Foundation is the sponsor for TAMUQ and they are really incompetent. People are given high paying and high power positions because of what their last name is. TAMUQ has a budget that exceeds $100,000,000 annually. For a tiny branch campus. I know people here who play lots of solitaire and make over $300,000 a year. No exaggeration.

If you work there and you do not play the game, they will squeeze you out. The people there HATE accountability and are as pretentious as they come. They want their plentiful vacations, high pay and everything that comes with it. I can think of a few great staff members, but my Goodness they are outweighed by the terrible ones. Those are like a cancer to the system.

Trust me when I say, never ever hire anyone who has graduated from TAMUQ unless they have an extremely high GPA and have many people vouching for them. I do know a few good ones, but it is maybe 5%. Most are really slimy and lie like they breathe to manipulate and get what they want. Because they know the university will bend to them, for the almighty dollar.

TAMUQ should by shut down, but it won't be anytime soon.

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I worked with the Qatar Air Force doing security cooperation and this sounds like a mirror image of my experience with that culture

Part of america's strength is that it is surrounded by two oceans and two friendly countries. It does make untraveled people who have no grasp of the rest of the world though. I do wish more americans would take a peek at the rest of the world, and not just the beautiful vacation spots. Society would quickly appreciate america a lot more and fight a lot harder to keep what we have going.

Aston94 said:

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BQ_90 said:

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TheHoneybadger said:

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I can assure everyone, the Aggie honor code is a complete facade in Qatar. It's non-existent and if you abide by it, you'll be pushed out. They won't let anything or anyone threaten their financial situation. Both as a branch campus, and the vast majority of staff and faculty that work there.

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A&M gets plenty of federal dollars, you think the federal govt abides by any part of the Aggie Code of Honor

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I think it would be the degrees we are allowing with the A&M name on it that would be the issue.

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A&M is neck deep in woke

Dr. Perry Cox said:

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W said:

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did the new A&M president just have his "Bjork" moment?

put out a statement a month ago that "everything is fine"

then 30 days later the BoR pulls the plug

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Not at all. The insinuations were completely false and he responded appropriately. However, it was about time they realized that the Qatar campus was not worth the headaches that it caused.

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And the Middle East is not the same as it was a few short years ago.

bubblesthechimp said:

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struggling a bit with a tamu q lifer complaining about how awful things are there and saying

Quote:

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If you work there and you do not play the game, they will squeeze you out.

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while being one of the people who obviously hasnt gotten squeezed out and is therefore playing the game pretty well!

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I agree...that TAMU Qatar lifer has been there over a decade and just complains about everyone and everything while getting paid very well to do practically nothing. If you hate it so much, why not leave earlier?..you now will have around 4 years to leave...I doubt you would have left if not forced to...

Sounds like nothing but good things to say. Guess that's why Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern etc like it too.
Beginning to wonder who the straight man is in this play.