PHILADELPHIA – October 5, 2008 – The Middle East Forum announces the appointment of Ruth Malhotra as a research assistant at Campus Watch, its program to improve Middle East studies at North American universities.
Ms Malhotra is a recent graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, from which she received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in International Affairs with a research focus on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
As an undergraduate, Ms Malhotra worked to advance academic freedom, intellectual diversity, and accountability in higher education. In 2006, she filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Georgia Tech challenging unconstitutional policies that supported censorship and the suppression of students’ rights. Her case prompted Georgia Tech to repeal its speech code, alter its unconstitutional “speech zone,” and eliminate the unconstitutional portion of its “Safe Space” program.
“I am very pleased to join Campus Watch, where I will continue my efforts to bring about greater accountability in higher education,” said Malhotra. “Many of the most egregious problems in academe, from politicization of the curriculum to oppressive intellectual homogeneity, afflict Middle East studies, and I look forward to working for reform in that vital field.”
Campus Watch director Winfield Myers said he admires Malhotra’s advocacy for academic reform. “Ruth Malhotra has a proven record of defending the free speech rights of students and professors who refuse to be intimidated by intolerant faculty and administrators,” Myers said. “Her fearlessness in the face of implacable hostility from Georgia Tech’s leadership demonstrates her readiness to tackle administrative and intellectual corruption in Middle East studies throughout North America.”
For immediate release
For more information, contact Winfield Myers at
Myers@MEForum.org
