Three South Asians among latest Rhodes Scholars Francis C. Assisi

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Beginning with her study of development and democratization efforts in Nicaragua, Mylavarapu works to educate her peers about international affairs and human rights through the university's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. While at Harvard, she designed her own degree, focusing on Human Rights in Development. She organizes campus conferences on international affairs, promotes global awareness among high school students around the world, and runs a development magazine. Last summer, she journeyed to India and worked towards reducing Hindu-Muslim tension. She plans to pursue a joint JD/MA in international development law and policy. She also enjoys watercolor painting, traveling, and baking.

Ian Desai, of Brooklyn, New York, graduated in 2004 from the University of Chicago, where he majored in ancient studies. Ian was a board member of South Asia Watch, and a founder of the Kashmir Project. Ian spent last summer tracing the journey of Jason and the Argonauts through Greece, Turkey and Georgia. He intends to do the M.St. in Oriental Studies and European Literature at Oxford.

In a prize-winning essay Desai wrote last year: ‘I have put pressure on myself to prove myself capable of surviving the big bad world. Indeed, of thriving in it. The pressure is poignant because I feel eminently close to a new stage of my life, a more ‘advanced' one, which is coming whether I like it or not and is just around the corner. ‘

Desai is an avid collector of rare poetry books and won the 4th-year prize in 2004 for his collection. During his Junior year Desai founded the Chicago Society whose mission is to “promote interaction and exchange between our University’s students and the most intelligent, vital and influential figures in the American academic and political worlds.” The group’s motto, adapted from the first line of Plato’s Phaedrus, “My friend, where have you been, and where are you going?” demonstrates not only the members’ inquisitiveness but also their desire to connect with others to solve problems.

Kazi Sabeel Rahman, of Scarsdale, is a senior at Harvard concentrating in social studies. Sabeel is editor of the Harvard International Review, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior. He is a tutor in the Harvard Writing Center, plays the clarinet, and is active on the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee. Sabeel plans to do the M.Phil. in Development Studies at Oxford

The thirty-two American men and women chosen as Rhodes Scholars will enter the University of Oxford in England in October 2005. The Scholars were chosen today from 904 applicants - who were endorsed by 341 colleges and universities. The scholarships provide two or three years of study at Oxford.

Applicants are chosen on the basis of the criteria set down in the Will of Cecil Rhodes. These criteria are high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership, and physical vigor. These basic characteristics are directed at fulfilling Mr. Rhodes's hopes that the Rhodes Scholars would make an effective and positive contribution throughout the world. As he wrote, Rhodes Scholars should ‘esteem the performance of public duties as their highest aim.’

The value of the Rhodes Scholarship varies depending on the academic field, the degree (B.A., master's, doctoral), and the Oxford college chosen. The Rhodes Trust pays all college and university fees, provides a stipend to cover necessary expenses while in residence in Oxford as well as during vacations, and transportation to and from England. The total value averages approximately US$35,000 per year.