U.S. policies incur sting, scholars say

A Spokane Rhodes Scholar – who’s known as Bubba to friends and family – is behind a widely circulated letter from overseas scholars who fear their country’s actions are harming their international educations.

Spokane native Anthony House, 23, was weeks from returning to the Lilac City when the movement was born.

In June, House drafted a letter with three other scholars – two Rhodes and two Marshall – who explained what they see as a growing rift between Americans studying abroad and the rest of the world due to United States international policies and actions such as the invasion of Iraq. Their letter circulated among their academic peers from 34 American states and was eventually signed by 203 overseas scholars.

This week, the letter was offered to national newspapers, which has resulted in some international coverage, including a story by Reuters News wire service.

“It’s about thrusting ourselves into the national debate,” said House, who is now back with his parents in Spokane for the summer. “We come from all over the country.”

Part of the mission of the Rhodes Scholars is to contribute to public dialogue, House said. Mostly, their letter represents a voice that hasn’t been heard, he said.

In England, there’s a general feeling the United States is not honest or forthright with our motivations for doing things, House said.

Although Prime Minister Tony Blair has been Bush’s staunchest ally, House said upcoming leaders who’ll eventually inherit the reins of power are becoming convinced that America is not a friend worth keeping.

“When we were putting together this letter, we felt this is a chance to make a difference,” House said.

The letter begins, “We write this letter as a group of young Americans – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – who have been given the opportunity to live and study abroad. … We find it increasingly difficult to defend America against accusations that our country has misused its power.”

The letter is one of several projects associated with a new student organization called Win Back Respect, said Matt Bennett, a public relations consultant in Washington, D.C., who’s helping the group.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of interest in the foreign press,” Bennett said. “In just about every continent it’s made a splash. These people, Rhodes Scholars and Marshall Scholars, don’t get involved in politics generally.”

Inserting themselves into a national discussion is notable, Bennett said.

House returned to the United States three weeks ago from Oxford, where he’s studying 16th-century London when the population quadrupled between 1550 and 1650. His summer homework includes translating 400 pages of handwritten records recorded in a blend of Old English and Latin that consist of contested wills, deeds, prison records and parish registers.

A lifetime Spokane resident, House frequently sees old classmates from Cataldo Catholic School and Gonzaga Prep. House was finishing his undergraduate work at Georgetown University when last year he was named a Rhodes Scholar.

He’s the only American in his program studying English history. While in Oxford, he met a fellow student who started the Win Back Respect organization, which is composed solely of students.

House talked with fellow American students about what they could do at Oxford regarding what they saw as a worsening situation of American relations with the rest of the world.

“My friends and I were discussing the possibility of a letter,” he said.

At Oxford, dinner is a formal affair where students must dress formally for a three-course meal, which leaves at least 90 minutes for nightly conversation. Word of the letter soon got around, and more students asked to read it and contribute to it. Their original goal was to have it written within a week. The process stretched to a month. Two large meetings were held in Oxford pubs regarding the letter. About 15 scholars offered notable contributions. In all, maybe 40-50 people read the drafts.

“It was a scary process. We started with a fairly coherent letter. Then it became incoherent,” House said.

Now that the letter has become readable again, it’s becoming part of the national discussion and hopefully a proactive way to find a solution to student concerns, House said.

In all, nine of the 200 scholars are from Washington state. One other signer is from Eastern Washington, 1997 Gonzaga Prep alum and U.S. Army officer 1st Lt. Anne McClain, who’s a Marshall Scholar studying for a master’s degree in international security at the University of Bristol.

“As an officer, I couldn’t take a public policy stance,” McClain said Thursday by phone from England. But when she saw the completed letter that was circulating among students, McClain said she liked how it took a tone of concern rather than a political slant.

“My concerns are more grounded in the safety of classmates,” McClain said.

McClain said in a prepared statement sent out with the letter that British students have been “very aggressive” toward her due to United States policy.

“It’s slowly gotten worse over the year,” McClain said.