Jan. 20. 2004, Philadelphia. - Campus Watch publishes today a list of recommended Middle East academics on its website at http://www.campus-watch.org/recommends.php. The thirty-two university-based specialists offer thoughtful and balanced analysis of the Middle East, amidst a sea of politicized scholars.
“Since the launch of Campus Watch, students and parents have been seeking our advice when applying for Middle East programs,” said Campus Watch founder, Daniel Pipes. “While many of our reports are negative, we also see it as part of our mission to recommend the specialists who do praiseworthy work.”
The professors listed include: Fouad Ajami (Johns Hopkins Univ.), Isaac Alteras (Queen’s College), Daniel Brumberg (Georgetown Univ.), Shaul Bakhash (George Mason Univ.), Mark R. Cohen (Princeton Univ.), Michael Cook (Princeton Univ.), Patricia Crone (Princeton Univ.), Michael Doran (Princeton Univ.), Timothy Furnish (Georgia Perimeter College), David Fromkin (Boston University) Gregory Gause (Univ. of Vermont), Michael Gunter (Tennessee Tech Univ.), Norman Itzkowitz (Princeton Univ.), Bruce Jentleson (Duke Univ.), Efraim Karsh (Harvard Univ.), Mark Katz (George Mason Univ.), Judith A. Klinghoffer (Rutgers Univ, Camden), Eugene Kontorovich (George Mason University) Bernard Lewis (Princeton Univ.), Kanan Makiya (Brandeis Univ.), Khaleel Mohammed (San Diego Univ.), Yitzhak Nakash (Brandeis Univ.), Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr (Univ. of San Diego), Walid Phares (Florida Atlantic Univ.), Franck Salameh (Brandeis Univ.), Philip Carl Salzman (McGill University) Michael Schub (Trinity College), S. Rob Sobhani (Georgetown University) Kenneth Stein (Emory Univ.), John W. Swails (Oral Roberts Univ.), William E. Watson (Immaculata College), and Quintan Wiktorowicz (Rhodes College).
“We didn’t ask the professors for their permission to post their names,” said Campus Watch managing editor, Jonathan Calt Harris. “On our own initiative, we compiled this list to help students, parents, journalists, government officials, and others to find the professors from whom they might wish to learn.”
The list of recommended scholars is a work in progress. Campus Watch continues to review the work of professors and plans to add to the list. In fact, Campus Watch invites nominations of other scholars by sending their names to staff@campus-watch.org.
Campus-Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum, reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them. The project mainly addresses five problems: analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students.
