Press Releases:
June 2008
METROPOLITAN STATE COLLEGE of DENVER Prof available to address al-Qaida in Algeria
Is imprisonment the solution?
Jail for the attackers is not enough to respond to Sunday’s bomb attacks on a train station in Algeria that killed 13 people, says Mohammed Akacem, an economics professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
“What the West and the Arab/Islamic countries need to focus on to fight terrorism is not ‘rounding up the usual suspects,’” says Akacem, a former economist with the African Development Bank, the Algerian Ministry of Energy, and the Saudi Fund for Development. “We need to focus our energies more on the fundamental factors that are causing these groups to strike.
“These can be found in the home countries themselves and relate to the lack of any or hardly any rule of law, lack of property rights, lack of hope and economic gains despite record oil prices, and endemic corruption. Jailing these suspects is not enough. If that was the solution, we would not see as much action as we are in the Arab and Islamic countries. Yet, from Morocco to Pakistan, violent strikes by these groups continue.”
To coordinate an interview with Dr. Akacem, contact Angelia McGowan at 303-556-5133 or Dr. Akacem directly at 303-875-0656 or akacemm@mscd.edu.
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METROPOLITAN STATE COLLEGE of DENVER
Live from Washington D.C.
Political Science Professor Provizer available for telephone interviews
Now that the Democratic Party has its nominee, what's the buzz in
the nation's capital?
Metropolitan State College of Denver Political Science Professor Norman
Provizer is in Washington, D.C. leading a group of 12 Metro State students
on a tour of our nation's capital. The trip ends June 18. He is available
to comment via telephone on what people in Washington D.C. are saying about
the Democratic nomination of Sen. Barack Obama and the next steps for Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
For 17 summers, Provizer has been taking Metro State students to Washington,
D.C. for an intense, three-credit-hour, two-week course called The
Washington Semester. Drawing on his network, including Metro State alumni,
he provides students with a truly unique experience that goes beyond simple
tourism.
Over the years, the group has dined with presidential press secretaries,
become accredited researchers at the Library of Congress, taken private
tours of the White House West Wing and attended a variety of exclusive
lectures.
D.C. Experience 2008 Blog: Chris Lawson, a writer in the Metro State Office
of College Communications has joined the group in D.C. and is blogging about
their experience. Follow Provizer and the students on their journey at
http://www.dcexperience08.blogspot.com/.
To coordinate an interview, contact Angelia McGowan at 303-556-5133 or
angeliam@mscd.edu. To contact Professor Provizer directly, call
303-809-5696.