Campus Watch   Research

Campus Watch Weekly Update

March 27, 2023

Campus Watch reports the following from March 13 - March 27:

Campus Watch Research:

Georgetown panel miraculously criticizes the ‘golden age’ myth of Muslim empire (Andrew E. Harrod): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/64267/georgetown-panel-miraculously-criticizes

Middle East Studies in the News

Since MESA endorsed BDS, its membership has declined: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/64276/the-flight-from-mesa

Middle East Studies is still plagued by problems of standards, politicization, and funding: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/64258/to-boycott-or-not-to-boycott

Jewish-Americans and Iranian-Americans gathered at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles in solidarity with the women of Iran (incl. Mohammad Jafar Mahallati): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/64250/iranian-americans-and-jews-have-natural-allyship

Republican senators wrote letter to education dept. accusing the Biden administration of allowing “taxpayer-funded antisemitism” on college campuses: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/64249/republicans-demand-answers-from-education-dept-on

University of North Carolina Harvard University University of California, Berkeley Columbia University University of Toronto University of Chicago Georgetown University University of Texas Middle East Studies Association (MESA) University of California, Los Angeles Title VI Duke University University of Notre Dame Assoc. for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) Saudi/Gulf Funding University of Arizona John Esposito Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Mohammad Jafar Mahallati Oberlin College
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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