Campus Watch Weekly Update

Campus Watch reports the following from August 12-18, 2019:

We Couldn’t Have Said it Better

“One of the most enjoyable aspects of this engaging book is observing how Kelly uses his literary talents to take on his shallow and capricious peers in the field of Middle Eastern studies. His disdain for ‘political panderers’ and ‘guilt-ridden ex-diplomatists’ is only matched by his abhorrence of the ‘bogus scholar’ and the ‘type of journalist who drifts occasionally into the Public Record Office to see whether any newsworthy items have been brought to light lately’ (p.67). As a prolific reviewer of books himself, he has a particular issue with fellow reviewers on Middle East works whose ‘sole acquaintance with the subject under discussion derives from the books they are reviewing’ (p.77). The ignorant and uninformed may frustrate him but he is positively enraged by those who know the truth but instead choose, in the interest of ideology or professional advancement, to pander to the received doctrines of the day.”

Rory Miller, Professor of Government at Georgetown University in Qatar, on the second volume of J.B. Kelly’s The Oil Cringe of the West; “Middle Eastern Studies,” January 2016.

Howler of the Month

“Israel & Netanyahu’s banning @Ilhan and @RepRashida from entering Palestine represents the Palestinian Nakba; thus the insistence on the right of return for the 1948 refugees is a key demand for the BDS movement.”

Hatem Bazian, director of the Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project at the University of California, Berkeley, comparing Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu barring BDS activists and US Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from a planned trip to Israel to the Palestinian “Nakba,” or catastrophe, the Arabic term for Israel’s founding in 1948; Twitter, August 15, 2019.

Link: https://twitter.com/HatemBazian/status/1162058164776448001

Campus Watch Blog

California Scraps Proposed Ethnic Studies Curriculum After Widespread Opposition: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59166/california-scraps-proposed-ethnic-studies

Campus Watch in the Media

Daily Caller on Qatar Foundation International’s K-12 funding (references CW’s 2017 Georgetown U. report): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59189/qatar-foundation-international-funds-arabic

Middle East Studies in the News

Haym Salomon Center’s Paul Miller on the Zachor Legal Institute filing a complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office, asking for an investigation into possible terror recruitment activities at Duke U: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59162/are-terror-groups-recruiting-on-college-campuses

Clarion Project’s Shireen Qudosi on the feud between Ilhan Omar and Sarah Idan (incl. Southern Methodist U’s Omar Suleiman, San Diego State U’s Khaleel Mohammed, Rhodes College’s Yasir Qadhi, Zaytuna College’s Hamza Yusuf): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59182/ilhan-omar-vs-miss-iraq-the-feud-incl-omar

Gary Fouse on U. of Michigan prof Juan Cole’s blog on wind power: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59190/juan-cole-and-wind

Open Democracy interview with Dartmouth U. Chair of Middle Eastern Studies Tarek El-Ariss on his new book, Leaks, Hacks, and Scandals: Arab Culture in the Digital Age: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59183/leaks-hacks-and-scandals-a-conversation-with

ASU Now (Arizona State University) interview with ASU prof Souad T. Ali about her new book, Perspectives of Five Kuwaiti Women in Leadership Roles: Feminism, Islam, and Politics: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59174/asu-prof-explores-feminism-islam-and-politics-in

Judge denies PA Main Line Quaker school’s request to toss out a lawsuit by two teachers, who claim they were fired for inviting Swarthmore prof Sa’ed Atshan to speak: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59163/judge-denies-friends-central-request-to-have

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on locals’ lack of knowledge on the war in Afghanistan (incl. U. of Pittsburgh prof Luke Peterson): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59192/afghanistan-is-an-afterthought-in-pittsburgh-incl

Zaytuna Institute’s Zaid Shakir and Southern Methodist U. adjunct Omar Suleiman lead a “Muslims for Migrants” campaign to raise money to bail out detained migrant parents: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59193/muslim-initiative-raises-thousands-to-release

On a new ethnic studies high school curriculum under proposal by the California Department of Education that—due to outcry over anti-Israel bias—has now been scrapped (articles appear in reverse chronological order):

Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers (on JVP’s backing): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59196/jvp-ellen-brotsky-is-just-fine-with-model

Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers (on curriculum drafter Samia Shoman and the nature of her “World History” class when at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59197/samia-shoman-the-anti-israel-drafter-of

Forbes (Evan Gerstmann): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59195/political-correctness-and-anti-jewish-bias-mar

J: The Jewish News of Northern California: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59198/jews-must-be-included-in-ethnic-studies-says

The Washington Free Beacon (CA GOP demands investigation): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59181/gop-leader-demands-investigation-into-anti

JNS: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59177/california-board-of-education-scraps-anti-israel

Clarion Project: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59175/anti-semites-writing-california-high-school

The Algemeiner: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59168/california-praised-for-scrapping-controversial

Orange County Register: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59173/ethnic-studies-proposal-for-high-schoolers-called

Fox News (Brooke Goldstein): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59171/anti-jewish-and-anti-israel-school-curriculum-on

The Chronicle of Higher Education: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59169/ethnic-studies-scholars-hoped-their-curriculum

Jewish Journal: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59165/ca-state-board-of-education-says-proposed-ethnic

The Washington Free Beacon: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59178/california-introduces-radical-anti-semitic-high

JNS (on Israeli-American reaction): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59172/israeli-americans-mobilizing-against-biased

The Washington Times: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59157/california-proposed-ethnic-studies-curriculum

Moonlighters

Jihad Watch’s Hugh Fitzgerald on Rutgers prof Jasbir Puar: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59194/israel-charged-with-deliberately-sparing

Cinnamon Stillwell analyzes Middle East studies academia in West Coast colleges and universities for Campus Watch. A San Francisco Bay Area native and graduate of San Francisco State University, she is a columnist, blogger, and social media analyst. Ms. Stillwell, a former contributing political columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, has written on a wide variety of topics, including the political atmosphere in American higher education, and has appeared as a guest on television and talk radio.
See more from this Author
See more on this Topic
John Esposito’s Book, Islam: The Straight Path, Was Published by Oxford Univ. Press, Ensuring That Countless Students Will Read, Imbibe, and Spread Its Lies
While Columbia Univ. Is the Reigning Champion of the Anti-Israel Academic Scene, Rutgers University Is Making a Bold Play for the Title
Mapheze Ahmad Yousef Saleh, Daughter of a Senior Hamas Official, Is Married to a Hamas Apologist