Posted on 09/27/2002 8:43:42 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Furor erupts over Web site monitoring of Middle Eastern scholars
By RON TODT
The Associated Press
9/27/02 10:22 PM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A pro-Israel organization has set up a Web site to monitor professors and universities for pro-Arab, anti-Israel bias -- a move some academics are decrying as campus McCarthyism and attempted intimidation.
The Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum said it organized the Campus Watch site to counter pervasive bias in universities' Middle Eastern studies.
The site names schools and specific professors. Forum director Daniel Pipes said the think tank hopes eventually to monitor 250 North American academic institutions.
"Our goal is to monitor, critique and improve Middle East studies," Pipes said. "We're not at universities because our views are not welcome. We're trying to create an alternative voice within the field."
Scholars whose articles are compiled into dossiers on the Web site include Hamid Dabashi and Joseph Massad of Columbia, John Esposito of Georgetown, Juan Cole of the University of Michigan and Snehal Shingavi of University of California at Berkeley. Dossiers are also listed on those institutions as well as a dozen others, including Stanford, Northeastern, the University of Chicago and the University of North Carolina.
Opponents immediately called the effort "McCarthy-like" and an attempt to stifle opposition to U.S. policy in the Middle East. Professors listed on the site said they were bombarded with e-mail over the weekend.
In a show of support for those named on the site, about 100 other academics have asked to be added to the list.
Judith Butler, a gender theorist at Berkeley, wrote that she would like to be included in the list of U.S. academics "who oppose the Israeli occupation and its brutality, actively support Palestinian rights of self-determination" and support an informed view of Islam.
The Campus Watch site accuses American Middle Eastern scholars of generally being biased against the United States and being apologists for unfriendly regimes.
University of Chicago historian Rashid Khalidi, who is quoted on the Web site as sympathizing with the Palestinian cause, called the site "slimy" and intended to chill opposition.
"What they're trying to do is exclude from public debate opinions that go against the neo-conservative consensus that dominates discussion of policy on Iraq or policy on the Israeli conflict by smearing us and calling us aliens," he said.
Pipes said he will not remove a "Keep Us Informed" page on the site that opponents say is an attempt to get students to turn in their professors. He said it gives students a place to complain about mistreatment.
"What you have in university is exclusion of alternate points of view," Pipes said. "You've got to subscribe to the party line and then you can make your career; if you don't, you're out."
------
On the Net:
http://www.campus-watch.org
Just because you say so? Great. I think that they are quite on topic. Because I say so.
You are going to be embarrassed when you recall how "top-level" Alger Hiss was, and then you'll be mad about what access he had to classified information about sources and methods.
Sigh. We won anyway.
/john
Please detail. Bush's socialism is quite disappointing. I could use some good news.
Right. That's why he's addressed them personally rather than send Powell or somebody else. LOL.
No prison? No fines? No public lashings?? ... Did they at least get a parking ticket while testifying???
Absurd. And the rationalization of Begin's acts are just as absurd.
I wish something like this had been available before so I could have found this out easily. But I will check up on future teachers--it just didn't occur to me before that this was going on.
I'm not at all happy that we're paying a small fortune to have had our child turned into an arab apologist by that teacher.
The 60s generation has a lot to answer for; it wasn't enought to wreak havoc during those days, now they are working hard in their later years to convert a number of skulls full of mush to their way of thinking. I can only hope most of my child's generation will wake up in due time, but a lot of damage is being done in the meantime.
Kudos to Daniel Pipes.
I did. During the race. I asked for prayers for a victory. Much of the race is detailed on FR.
Short version is that we (a group of cranky conservatives) overthrew the local machine and are implementing rational government. At the local level.
One does have to get up off of one's fundament and work, but the rewards are sweet. We've kept the socialists from millions of dollars so far.
/john
LOL. I know. It's hilarous.
What do you mean by that? What makes you think there is a communist in the current administration? Or, that it is full of them?
I don't think I can agree with that kind of blanket statement.
How many of them today would object if the US enacted a "Zero Tolerance for Hate" law and set up tribunals to see who belonged to the KKK or some "right wing" Christian "Homosexuality-is-a-sin" group? How many of them would proudly point fingers and say "I saw HIM going into a church!!"
And yes it makes me mad, in fact it makes me furious, that he had so much access to secrets.
But yes we won anyway. Luckily.
To destroy intelligence information that had fallen into hostile hands?
That seems about right to me--they've managed somehow to turn it into that.
You do realize that the law I cited is currrent do you not? That exemption stands RIGHT NOW.
It was passed by Congress. Meaning a majority of congressmen voted to exempt communist organizations from paying into social security. Some of them are still in office....
Bush himself is a big-time socialist if not communist. His policies are about total government control over every aspect of society. From charity, to security, farming, to healthcare and education he has proposed a greater role by government.
And his cabinet all seem to share his gleefull expansion of federal control. So does the congress. While they pretend to oppose each other, they continue to expand the budget. The "tax cut" that Bush got passed was a joke. His spending increases are unprecedented. But that's not hard. Virtually every President and Congress's spending increases have been unprecedented for the last 200 years. And no it's not a matter of inflation.
BTW, you are utterly incorrect about McCarthy ! Reading weird web sites,full of revisionist history and lacking in substance and historical fact; are you, or is this from your delusional imagings ... as usual ?
No, actually I think he's dotting every i and crossing every t. He's doing just what he should be doing. People constantly "misunderestimate" George W. Bush, at their own peril.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.