Campus Watch reports the following from August 10-August 24, 2020:
Howler of the Month
“Those monarchies are so reactionary that they make Henry VIII and Louis XIV look like Tom Paine and Robespierre. They are the most — they are the most absolute monarchies in the world today.”
Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, characterizing the United Arab Emirates after it announced a peace agreement with Israel. From a transcript of his interview with Amy Goodman, “Israel & UAE Deal to Normalize Relations Is New Chapter in 100-Year War on Palestine"; “Democracy Now,” August 14, 2020.
Link: https://www.democracynow.org/2020/8/14/israel_uae_agreement_trump_palestine
We Couldn’t Have Said It Better
“Some of us came into history precisely to escape the passions of the moment, to gain the breadth of outlook that comes with a deeper historical perspective. We understand, as many of our contemporaries seem not to, that importing modern agendas into the study of the past makes us worse historians, less able to understand the past in its own terms.”
James Hankins, Professor of History at Harvard University, on the difficulties faced by history graduate students who resist the trendy methodologies and political ideologies that dominate the discipline. In “How to Renew Traditional Historical Studies in Graduate School"; the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, August 19, 2020.
Middle East Studies in the News
Rutgers U. prof Noura Erakat calls a terrorist attack in Israel involving her cousin an “accident": https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/61372/rutgers-prof-calls-israel-terrorist-attack
Court rejects Islamist challenge to critical teaching about Islamic terrorism (incl. Nicholas Damask):
Arizona Republic: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/61416/court-dismisses-case-against-scottsdale-community
The College Fix: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/61417/judge-tosses-lawsuit-against-college-for-islamist
Reason Magazine: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/61400/court-rejects-constitutional-challenge-to
Congressman Doug Lamborn presses Dept. of Education to investigate misuse of Title VI funds after learning of anti-Israel curriculum at U.C. Berkeley’s Center for MES (incl. Ussama Makdisi):
JWeekly: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/61401/congressman-takes-up-students-claims-of-anti
Jewish Journal: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/61407/congressman-calls-on-education-dept-to
Campus Watch in the Media
On Brown U.'s appointment of Beshara Doumani as the Mahmoud Darwish Professor of Palestinian Studies: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/61371/a-milestone-for-palestinian-studies
New Recommended Professor
Joseph Spoerl, Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy, St. Anselm College
https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/campus-resources/recommended-professors
