I have to admit that when we first found out about Rahmatullah Hashemi at Yale (over breakfast after morning minyan at the Slifka Center) the first thing that struck my friends and me was the sheer humor of it: The new Yale Bulldog, Taliban Dan, relying on us infidels at the Kosher Kitchen.
Later that day some of us witnessed what was probably the first (and last) time CNN cameramen showed up for dinner at Slifka. They were looking for Hashemi, who cleverly decided not to show up–leaving CNN with nothing to look at but the uninteresting mix of Orthodox Jews and the other students who come for what is said to be the best dining hall food on campus. Then I suppose CNN packed its bags and beat it, having failed to find anything worth filming.