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Public
Employee Press CNR experts explore
Obamas foreign policy
President Barack
Obama and U.S. foreign policy, was the hot topic of a public forum presented
by the DC 37 Campus of the College of New Rochelle on April 24 at the union.
Some
100 CNR students and DC 37 members attended the discussion, which included as
panelists activist and journalist Herb Boyd and CNR professors Victorian Assi
and Paulette Mapp. CNR Professor Nibaldo Aguilera moderated the timely dialogue.
Boyd,
who is an adjunct professor in the Black Studies Dept. at City College and at
CNRs JOC campus, said that 100 days is still very early to assess Obamas
presidency. But he pointed out that the new presidents foreign policy starts
with diplomacy first and foremost.
Boyd also stressed the complexity
of the issues. Pakistan is the burning issue of the day, and that region
of the world is especially complicated, he said.
Professor Mapp said
she sees Obamas decisions to close the Guantanamo army base in Cuba and
to allow Cuban Americans to visit the island and send money to family there as
a positive moves.
She stated that she would like the president to take
the next step and lift the decades-old embargo against the Caribbean island.
Professor
Assi pointed to the importance of improving U.S. relations with Africa and noted
President Obamas recent trip to Egypt as a step in the right direction.
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