One guess why. Below is a screencap; take a look:


So, what do we have here? An Indonesian Muslim student in a headscarf, flanked by two middle-aged, white male professors, who somehow loom larger in the frame than she does, even though one of them is less foregrounded than she. It's supposed to look cosmopolitan and inclusive, but instead it just looks like a hegemonic reproduction of global minority relations. Never mind for now who the student actually is (her name is Rianne, and she's brilliant), but there is an ugly intersection of gender, race, and ethnic prejudice, along with the comparatively innocent relationship of teacher and student, happening here, and you can't help but get the feeling that there is a paternal relationship between her and the professors that transcends the merely academic. Not to suggest that the academic relationship of West to East isn't in itself problematic--a whole 'nother can of worms. But when you consider the way in which NYU is becoming a post-colonial colonizer of the Middle East (with its "full-service" branch in Abu Dhabi), the photo becomes downright sinister.