“It’s a local issue,” politicians had claimed for weeks. And, perhaps, it was. That, however, simply wouldn’t last. At a Ramadan dinner earlier this month, President Obama waded into what has since become a national frenzy over the proposed construction of a mosque near ground zero. “Let me be clear,” Mr.

The burqa debate is back on in France, and a Washington University anthropologist has become part of it. The French government has asked anthropology professor John Bowen to testify on the matter, as a parliamentary commission is investigating a possible ban on burqas in public places. France banned burqas in public schools in 2004.

I have never been prouder to be a member of the Washington University community than on the late evening of Oct. 21, 2008.

If you read “When being impolite is imperative” by Caleb Posner (Sept. 26), you may be wondering why, as the article points out, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has rejected an offer made by the Clarion Fund to provide free copies of a “documentary” called “Obsession,” a special value-added insert to its paying customers.