The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is soliciting funding “to protect academic freedom.” The MESA committee on academic freedom may want to question its former president Juan Cole who wrote and never retracted that “The FBI should investigate how [Walid] Phares…became the ‘terrorism analyst’ at MSNBC.” By imposing a political litmus test on academic freedom—and by remaining silent when its officer for reasons of political disagreement or professional jealousy calls for criminalization of speech—MESA makes a mockery of the academic freedom it claims to support.
Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in Middle Eastern countries, particularly Iran and Turkey. His career includes time as a Pentagon official, with field experiences in Iran, Yemen, and Iraq, as well as engagements with the Taliban prior to 9/11. Mr. Rubin has also contributed to military education, teaching U.S. Navy and Marine units about regional conflicts and terrorism. His scholarly work includes several key publications, such as “Dancing with the Devil” and “Eternal Iran.” Rubin earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in history and a B.S. in biology from Yale University.
