Winfield Myers is Director of Academic Affairs for the Middle East Forum. Before joining MEF, he was managing editor of The American Enterprise magazine, a publication of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. He earlier served as senior editor and communications director at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Contact: Myers@MEForum.org
Cinnamon Stillwell is the West Coast Representative for Campus Watch. Based in San Francisco and a magna cum laude graduate of San Francisco State University, she is a political columnist and blogger who has written on a wide variety of topics, including the political atmosphere in American higher education. Contact: Stillwell@MEForum.org
Ruth Malhotra researches current developments concerning Middle East studies for Campus Watch. She received a B.A. and M.A. in international affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her 2006 federal civil rights lawsuit against Georgia Tech prompted it to restore unconstitutionally restricted First Amendment rights to the student body. Contact: Malhotra@MEForum.org
The Advisory Board consists of academic specialists in Middle East studies who advise Campus Watch and provide insights into developments in the field.
Campus Watch Fellows are experienced writers and scholars who produce a steady stream of essays and reports on Middle East studies.
Campus Watch does not take positions for or against specific candidates for tenure or employment at educational institutions. It affirms its right to critique teachers, instructors, and professors at any point in their careers based on professors' publications, statements, and teaching, not on their career paths.
Campus Watch affirms the right of universities and colleges to invite as on-campus speakers individuals deemed appropriate by administrators, professors, students, and other interested parties whose business it is to invite and oversee campus speakers programs. It does not take positions on individual speakers.
Campus Watch is grateful to receive the endorsement of Middle East studies specialists, scholars of other fields, public intellectuals, and students.
Campus Watch Research is original material written in-house by Campus Watch staff or commissioned by them from scholars and writers. While myriad topics are covered, it consists principally of two types of writings: research-oriented essays that explore problems within Middle East studies; and reports on panels, conferences, and lectures. All Campus Watch Research is rigorously fact-checked and reflects our mission to produce critiques that are both thorough and fair.
Written by Campus Watch staff, the Blog keeps readers informed about developments in Middle East studies, breaking news from campus, and highlights from the Middle East Forum. Follow it and the Campus Watch Facebook page to stay abreast of news concerning Middle East studies.
Articles listed under Middle East Studies in the News provide information on current developments in Middle East studies in North America from a wide variety of non-academic sources. As the largest available archive of its kind, it fulfills a key part of Campus Watch’s mission by providing students, parents, teachers, journalists, and researchers an accessible and reliable collection. These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch and do not necessarily correspond to Campus Watch’s critique.
Moonlighters are non-specialists who received their primary academic training in a field other than Middle East studies, but who nevertheless write and/or teach about the Middle East. Recent examples include professors of English, Native American studies, Jewish studies beyond the Middle East, international relations, and women’s and gender studies. These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch and do not necessarily correspond to Campus Watch's critique.
Campus Watch-sponsored research and Campus Watch staff are frequently mentioned in media nationwide. Recent examples of Campus Watch in the media include the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, the Los Angeles Times, the Federalist, and the Jerusalem Post. Postings in Campus Watch in the Media do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch.
Campus Watch’s willingness to pursue stories wherever they lead outrages professorial defenders of the corrupt status quo. Recently the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) falsely charged that Campus Watch attempts to “stifle perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with which they do not agree” in order to “achieve its political goals through spurious allegations and pressure tactics. A Yale professor complained in the Huffington Post and the New York Times that Campus Watch deigns to oppose anti-American and anti-Israel politically correct pieties. Unhinged professors from UCLA and UC-Santa Cruz outrageously charged Campus Watch with slandering and threatening with violence those with whom it disagrees. At Setting the Record Straight, we catalog and rebut these hysterical reactions—often with a bit of fun at our opponents’ expense.
The following list of universities is provided as an aid to research. Each entry links to articles in Campus Watch’s archives that mention or deal with the institutions as well as their scholars. This list is a work in progress, so please check back for additional citations.
Students, parents, and alumni have sought our advice regarding Middle East studies faculty whom we would recommend. Accordingly, our staff has compiled a list of scholars whom we consider thoughtful and balanced. This list makes no claims to completeness; indeed, we invite nominations of other scholars (please send names to campus-watch@meforum.org). Individuals listed here are done so at Campus Watch's initiative; they have neither asked to be included, nor have we asked for their authorization. Specifically, they do not necessarily endorse the Campus Watch project, nor does Campus Watch necessarily endorse all their work. For a listing of the field's most politicized, biased professors, please go to the parallel page, “Professors to Avoid.”
Campus Watch is often asked which professors are most responsible for the politicization and bias sadly endemic to Middle East studies. Given the discipline's decline, compiling an inclusive list would be futile. Hundreds of names could be credibly included, but even such a list would surely omit some while failing to highlight those most responsible for the field's general decline into a mockery of academe's purpose and aspirations. In this spirit, we have selected those professors whose biases, ahistorical claims, apologetics, willful blindness, intolerance of opposing views, and mixing of politics and scholarship mark them as the most egregious offenders of the high standards to which faculty should be held. For a listing of the field's outstanding figures, please go to the parallel page, "Recommended Professors."
Anti-Israel bias within Middle East studies is often expressed by support for a boycott against Israeli academics, goods, and services. These efforts single out Israel, from among all the world’s nations, for opprobrium. The professors on this list are Middle East studies academics and Moonlighters (non-specialists who teach and/or write about the Middle East) involved in the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).
Despite the anti-Israel orthodoxies prevailing among those who study the Middle East, there are still professors willing to buck the prevailing ideology and stand up for scholarship and teaching untainted by bigotry and hatred. Regardless of their field of expertise—Middle East studies, Israel studies, Jewish studies, or Moonlighters—their stance can result in professional ostracism and marks their dedication to rigorous education over biased indoctrination.
Following the launch of Campus Watch on September 18, 2002, this site received about 200 emails from faculty and graduate students requesting to be listed on our website in solidarity with academics we identified as apologists for suicide bombings and militant Islam listed on this site. (For more, see the New York Times article).Most of the writers were academics from fields other than Middle East studies (and so were not qualified to judge the work of the academics we listed) and few of them addressed the concerns and problems listed by Campus Watch on its homepage. Still, the fact that these individuals insist on declaring solidarity in public with academics that Campus Watch has identified as apologists for Palestinian and Islamist violence is important information for university stakeholders to be aware of, so we posted their names, in compliance with their wishes.
The Forum sees the region — with its profusion of dictatorships, radical ideologies, existential conflicts, border disagreements, corruption, political violence, and weapons of mass destruction — as a major source of problems for the United States. Accordingly, we urge bold measures to protect Americans and their allies. In the Middle East, we focus on ways to defeat radical Islam; work for Palestinian acceptance of Israel; develop strategies to contain Iran; and deal with the great advances of anarchy. At home, the Forum emphasizes the danger of lawful Islamism; protects the freedoms of anti-Islamist authors, activists, and publishers; and works to improve Middle East studies.
| News from the Middle East Forum
Seth Frantzman | Jerusalem Post
Jonathan Spyer | Foreign Policy
A.J. Caschetta | Jihad Watch
Danielpipes.org is one of the most accessed sources of specialized information on the Middle East and Muslim history, with over 69 million page views. Daniel Pipes is founder and president of the Middle East Forum – he has served in five presidential administrations and authored sixteen books on the Middle East, Islamism and related topics. The site offers an archive of his writings, along with video and audio of his latest media appearances, and translations of his works in 38 languages.
Impact: Washington Post – Daniel Pipes is “perhaps the most prominent U.S. scholar on radical Islam.” New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof – called Mr. Pipes a “smart conservative,” two days after Mr. Kristof endorsed the Southern Poverty Law Center, which lists Mr. Pipes as an “anti-Muslim extremist.”
Date: 5/27/2018
Date: 5/17/2018
Date: 5/14/2018
Date: 4/13/2018
Islamist Watch unveils and combats internal Islamist forces that exploit the freedoms of Western democracy to undermine from within. Lawful Islamists – in the media, courts, schools, public squares, and ballot boxes – seek the spread of Shari’a as governing law, although it is incompatible with Western democracy. Islamist Watch aims to make Islamists in suits and ties no more acceptable than ones wearing suicide vests – by countering corporate and governmental support, tracking tainted campaign contributions, and enhancing the presence and influence of anti-Islamist Muslims.
Impact: Donald Trump – “Hillary Clinton tops Middle East Forum’s ‘Islamist Money List.’” Keith Ellison – withdrew from the Islamist MAS-ICNA annual convention, after Islamist Watch publicized the extremism of fellow participants.
| Investigative Project
Caroline Linton | CBS News
Michelle Martin | Reuters
| The Local
The Israel Victory Project steers U.S. policy toward backing an Israel victory over the Palestinians to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. Decades of what insiders call “peace processing” have left matters worse than when they started. The time has come for a new approach, a complete re-thinking of the problem that draws on Israel’s earlier and successful strategy of deterrence. Stop pressuring Jerusalem to compromise and make “painful concessions.” Instead, support Israeli victory, convincing Palestinians and others that the Jewish state will endure.
Impact: Launched the bipartisan Congressional Israel Victory Caucus (CIVC) and the Knesset Israel Victory Caucus (KIVC), with 32 and 26 members respectively; influenced President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and order the U.S. embassy moved there (according to The Guardian, Al-Monitor, and NPR).
Jihad Intel provides local law enforcement with tools to detect and prevent Islamist terrorism. At the behest of Islamists and leftists, references to Islam have been removed from law enforcement and national security training materials. Law enforcement needs to know what to look for while searching apartments, cars, computer hard-drives and personal effects of prisoners. Jihad Intel’s gratis database provides them with background, image identifiers and intelligence for over 150 Islamic terror groups, including 87 image identifiers for ISIS.
Impact: Jihad Intel research fellow Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi – quoted 242 times in the media over the last year, including in the New York Times, the Jerusalem Post and the Los Angeles Times, and on CNN.
The Legal Project protects the public discussion of Islam and related topics – if Islamism can not be discussed, it can not be reformed. The project provides a lifeline to the growing number of individuals whose livelihood and freedom are threatened by predatory Islamist lawsuits and malign government policies. It maintains a legal defense fund and a database of pro-bono/reduced-rate attorneys; raises public awareness of the issue; and educates policy-makers on how they can protect this vital speech.
Impact: Djemila Benhabib, author – “From now on freedom of expression will be better off in our democratic society. In helping me, the Middle East Forum's Legal Project has played such an important part in that matter.”
The Washington Project works to translate the Forum’s ideas into U.S. policy. It identifies American interests toward the Middle East, Israel and Islamism, and influences policy-makers through intensive educational efforts in the capital. The project currently focuses on reforming UNRWA by re-defining a “Palestine refugee”; designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization; and finding support for an Israel victory over the Palestinians.
Impact: Held 157 separate meetings in the last year with members of Congress of their staff – impacting UNRWA’s policies, countering Muslim Brotherhood infiltration, and helping to prevent unilateral Palestinian statehood in Obama’s final days.
The original research that Campus Watch produces is based in part on reports and other information provided by students and faculty on North American campuses. Indeed, relevant reports that reflect an insider's view of Middle Eastern studies add an important element to our work. Please contact Campus Watch at campus-watch@meforum.org with reports on Middle East-related scholarship, lectures, classes, demonstrations, and other activities relevant to Campus Watch. Include your name, university affiliation, and email address. Information not yet published or only reported in the local/campus press is most useful to us. And don't assume the information need be negative; we are very interested in learning about professors and administrators who do credit to Middle East studies. Let us know if we have your permission to use original information you make available to us in our research or publicly on this website; and tell us if we might mention your name. If we do not secure this permission, we will use information you send for internal Campus Watch purposes only. Campus Watch may contact you to verify the information you have submitted, and ask for supporting documentation.
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Campus Watch corrects the false allegations made against it.
January 10, 2018|Mairav ZonszeinThe Forward
October 30, 2017|Chauncey DevegaSalon
October 24, 2017|Samir TwairWashington Report on Middle East Affairs
August 15, 2017|Ramzy BaroudAl-Jazeera
July 14, 2017|Rabab AbdulhadiMondoweiss
July 06, 2017|Kim JensenMondoweiss
June 01, 2017|Amani Al-Hindi BarakatLaunch Good
March 22, 2017|Brian LeiterThe Chronicle of Higher Education
February 22, 2017|Elyse Semerdjian, John Chalcroft, and Asli BaliJadaliyya
February 21, 2017|Sondra Hale and Lisa RofelCalifornia Scholars for Academic Freedom
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The Economist
Gary Fouse | Fousesquawk Blog
Andrew Harrod | Jihad Watch
Cinnamon Stillwell