In an op-ed in the Jewish Journal of Greater L.A., AMCHA Initiative co-founders Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith address the noncompliance of UCLA’s Center for Near East Studies with the requirements of Title VI funding, particularly in the wake of the campaign (which includes the Middle East Forum) to hold Middle East studies programs accountable for federal funding. As they put it:
What is startling is the brazen and public refusal by the CNES directors to abide by the requirement of the Title VI statute. In response to critics, including AMCHA Initiative, an official CNES statement recently released said that “those responsible for programming at CNES saw no reason to ‘balance’ the criticism (of Israel)…no reason to bring in speakers who would defend it.” In other words, Slyomovics, Hale and Piterberg did not just fail to live up to the “diverse perspectives” requirement of the federal grant which CNES asked for and received, but they never intended to honor it.
