Campus Watch   Research

Campus Watch Weekly Update

December 5, 2022

Campus Watch reports the following from November 29 - December 5:

Campus Watch Research

Navel-Gazing Inanities of MESA (A.J. Caschetta): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/63863/the-navel-gazing-inanities-of-mesa

Arizona State University Opens Center for Muslim Identity Politics (A.J. Caschetta): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/63873/arizona-state-university-opens-center-for-muslim

Middle East Studies in the News

New survey shows vast majority of MES academics support a boycott of Israel: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/63877/what-a-new-middle-east-scholars-survey-says-about

Supporters of Carleton U. prof Hassan Diab demand that the Canadian government prevent his extradition his France for his connection to a 1980 synagogue bombing: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/63878/hassan-diab-supporters-urge-government-to-deny

MESA and its supporters convene in Denver for its annual conference: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/63878/hassan-diab-supporters-urge-government-to-deny

Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan to be tried for rape in Geneva: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/63880/islamic-scholar-ramadan-to-be-tried-for-rape-in

Arizona State University Middle East Studies Association (MESA) University of Maryland University of Arizona Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) George Washington University
See more on this Topic
On March 15, 2026, two weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran’s regime, Alireza Doostdar, an associate professor of Islamic Studies in the Divinity School, told his followers on X that he was reading Yahya Sinwar’s prison novel The Thorn and the Carnation for his course “Liberatory Violence” and found it “remarkable how good it is as sociological commentary.”
Research
The Great Satan Comes to Hyde Park
UChicago’s Former Middle East Center Director Teaches Sinwar and Roots for Tehran’s Missiles
October 21, 2026
 · 
Gregg Roman
On Friday, September 18, 2026, Michigan State University’s Muslim Studies Program marked its 20th anniversary at the MSU International Center. The honoree was Mohammed Ayoob, a distinguished professor emeritus of international relations and the program’s founding coordinator.
Campus Watch
9/11 Wasn’t About Islam, Says the Professor Michigan State Just Honored
‘The Reality Was Far More Complex and Was Primarily Related to the Widespread Opposition to American Policy in the Middle East’
September 21, 2026
 · 
Gregg Roman
“Lawdan Bazargan, you are absolutely finished,” Saeidi says in a Persian-language post on X last month, verified as accurate by The Post. “I am coming after you with an army … Lawdan, we will do something to you that will be recorded in history.” Image: Old Main at the University of Arkansas.
Research
Former University of Arkansas Professor Shirin Saiedi Vows to Go After Critics ‘With an Army’
Pro-Iran Professor Blames the End of Her Career in the U.S. on Lawdan Bazargan
September 6, 2026
 · 
Benjamin Weinthal