Middle East Studies Association

Interventions

February 06, 2012
Committee on Academic Freedom

Removal of Baylor University Professor Marc Ellis

Disciplinary charges which Baylor University has brought against Professor Marc Ellis and about his removal from his teaching and administrative duties without a hearing.

January 13, 2012
Committee on Academic Freedom

Punitive Recommendation Ben Gurion University Consider Closing Department of Politics and Government

Letter to the Israeli Council for Higher Education (CHE) chairman Gideon Sa’ar regarding the recommendation that Ben Gurion University consider closing down the Department of Politics and Government.

November 23, 2011
Committee on Academic Freedom

Police Force used on University of California Campuses against Peace Protestors

Letter to University of California President Mark G. Yudof regarding police violence toward the campus communities engaged in peaceful protest on university campuses.

November 16, 2011
Committee on Academic Freedom

Assembly of Turkish-American Associations Allegations that Keith Watenpaugh Defamed Organization

Letter to Assembly of Turkish-American Associations President Ergun Kirlikovali regarding allegations that Prof. Keith Watenpaugh had defamed the organization.

November 03, 2011
Committee on Academic Freedom

Pressure on Faculty Expressing Solidarity with McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association Strike

Letter to McGill University administrators for pressure put on members of its faculty who have expressed solidarity with the strike called by the McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA).

August 18, 2011
Committee on Academic Freedom

Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism July 2011 Report that Loosely Defines Antisemitism

Response to the July 7, 2011, Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA) report whose loose and overly broad definition of antisemitism may threaten freedom of speech and violate the principles of academic freedom by defining criticism of Israeli policies, of Zionism or of Israel as a self-defined Jewish state as inherently antisemitic.

July 05, 2011
Committee on Academic Freedom

Government Investigation into Juan Cole May Have Influenced Yale University Position

Letter to Yale University's president and provost asking for an investigation into possible improper government influence on or communication regarding the university's 2006 decision not to hire Professor Juan Cole, as recommended by two departments. A June 15, 2011 New York Times article indicated that during that same time period the Bush administration was apparently seeking to have the CIA collect and provide information that might be used to discredit him.

April 08, 2011
Committee on Academic Freedom

Allegations against Claremont McKenna College Professor Bassam Frangieh that Appeared in Local Publications

Letter to Claremont McKenna Vice President Gregory D. Hess regarding allegations made against Professor Bassam Frangieh in articles that appeared in at least two local publications. The allegations and the resulting calls for Professor Frangieh’s dismissal threaten not only the right to free speech but also the principles of academic freedom.

February 23, 2011
Committee on Academic Freedom

Prosecutor Decision to Bring Misdemeanor Conspiracy Charges against 11 UC Irvine Students for Protesting Israeli Ambassador Speech

Letter to Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas expressing concern about the decision to bring misdemeanor conspiracy charges against eleven university students in connection with their disruption of a speech by Israeli ambassador Michael Oren at UC Irvine on February 8, 2010.

January 18, 2011
Committee on Academic Freedom

Turkish Coalition of America Lawsuit against University of Minnesota Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Letter to the Turkish Coalition of America on its decision to file a lawsuit against the University of Minnesota and its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, allegedly prompted by the Center’s listing of the organization’s website as an “unreliable” source with respect to the history of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

January 11, 2011
Committee on Academic Freedom

Canadian Legislators’ Remarks over Masters Thesis Disregarding Academic Freedom

Remarks by two members of Ontario’s Legislative Assembly, and by Ontario’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, with regard to the contents of a thesis accepted by a master’s program at the University of Toronto. These assertions inappropriately conflate criticism of Zionism and Israel with anti-Semitism. They also evince a disregard for the principles of academic freedom and threaten the autonomy of Canadian universities.

June 11, 2007
Committee on Academic Freedom

Concern over US Commission on Civil Rights Report “Campus Anti-Semitism” and their report on its findings and recommendations

Letter to the US Commission on Civil Rights expressing our grave concern with aspects both of the briefing report titled “Campus Anti-Semitism,” released by the United States Commission on Civil Rights earlier this year, and of the “Findings and Recommendations of the United States Commission on Civil Rights Regarding Campus Anti-Semitism,” dated April 3, 2006.