Middle East Studies Association

March 31, 2021
Letters and Statements from the Board

MESA Board Statement regarding the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism (and “Contemporary Examples”)

MESA expresses its grave concern about a number of the “Contemporary Examples of Antisemitism” that accompany the working definition of antisemitism formulated by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). MESA therefore encourages the federal, state, provincial, and local governments of the United States and Canada, as well as university and college administrations, to refrain from adopting or making policy based on IHRA's accompanying examples.

- Resources

March 23, 2021
Letters and Statements from the Board

Joint letter to the EU regarding the case of Maâti Monjib

MESA joins a letter with 15 NGOs, led by Reporters Without Borders and Free Press Unlimited, to Josep Borrell and Eamon Gilmore of the European Union concerning the case of the Moroccan historian and journalist Maâti Monjib, which MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom (MENA wing) has followed with growing urgency.

March 22, 2021
Letters and Statements from the Board

Statement Condemning Anti-Asian Violence

MESA has endorsed a statement by the American Council of Learned Societies strongly condemning anti-Asian violence.

March 03, 2021
Letters and Statements from the Board

Letter to Iowa Lawmakers Opposing Legislation to End Tenure at Public Universities

MESA has endorsed a letter by the American Council of Learned Societies strongly encouraging Iowa lawmakers to vote against bills which would remove tenure for faculty at Iowa's public universities.

February 12, 2021
Letters and Statements from the Board

MESA Board Statement in Solidarity with Protests at Boğaziçi University

The Board of Directors of the Middle East Studies Association of North America condemns the ongoing and intensified government assault on higher education in Turkey. As a scholarly association, MESA declares its solidarity with student and faculty protestors of the recent developments at Boğaziçi University. We join our voices to the demands raised by faculty and students: academic freedom, freedom of expression, and academic and democratic norms must be respected; and the autonomy of higher education in Turkey must be protected.

January 27, 2021
Letters and Statements from the Board

Statement Urging Kansas Board of Regents to Uphold Employment Protections for Faculty

MESA has endorsed a statement by the American Council of Learned Societies urging the Kansas Board of Regents to withdraw its endorsement of a proposed policy to suspend, dismiss, or terminate employees, including tenured faculty members, without formally declaring a financial emergency.

January 20, 2021
Letters and Statements from the Board

Statement Condemning Report of Advisory 1776 Commission

MESA has endorsed a statement by the American Historical Association condemning the report of the President's Advisory 1776 Commission, which attacks American institutions of higher education without evidence or cause. The 1776 Report omits or criticizes half a century of historical scholarship in favor of extolling a simplistic and tendentious interpretation of our past.

October 30, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

Statement on Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping

MESA has endorsed a statement by the American Philosophical Association concerning the threats to academic freedom posed by the Executive Order of September 22, 2020, which seeks to ban recipients of federal funding from instituting workplace training touching on what the order terms “divisive concepts” involving race.

October 29, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

MESA Statement on Academic Freedom and Corporate Control of Digital Platforms

MESA’s Board of Directors calls on university administrators to robustly defend the academic freedom of their faculty, students, and staff within Zoom and other corporate-controlled virtual meeting platforms.

August 13, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

ACLS Joint Statement: COVID-19 and the Key Role of the Humanities and Social Sciences in the United States

MESA has signed a statement on behalf of the humanities and social sciences in institutions of American higher education, coordinated in conjunction with the American Council of Learned Societies, attesting to the importance of study and research at this critical moment of crises.

July 08, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

Letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement Concerning Its Decision to End Visa Exemptions for International Students

MESA has cosigned the letter from the MLA and other ACLS constituents to ICE concerning the revocation of temporary visa exemptions for international students and faculty members for the upcoming academic year.

June 29, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

MESA Board Statement in solidarity with the uprisings against systemic racism and anti-Blackness

MESA pledges to oppose anti-Black racist violence by addressing the structural injustice at work in our own organization, in the field of Middle East studies, and among communities in the region. Guided by the principles articulated here, we commit to eradicating anti-Blackness in our organization and in the knowledge we produce.

- Interventions

June 23, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

Statement on Collection Development, Access, and Equity in the time of COVID-19

MESA has endorsed the Middle East Librarians Association Statement on Collection Development, Access, and Equity in the time of COVID-19 issued June 22, 2020. The statement concerns the preservation of funding allocations for acquiring materials from the region and other related issues.

June 03, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

Statement Deploring Systemic Racism

MESA has cosigned the Modern Language Association Executive Council's statement calling for racial equity and justice, in solidarity with protestors against structures of racism in the United States.

May 04, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

Statement Condemning Racism and Discrimination Against Asians and Asian Americans during COVID-19

MESA has cosigned the American Philosophical Association statement regarding xenophobia, discrimination, and racism, including acts of violence, against Asians and Asian Americans.

April 23, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

A Call to Higher Education Administrators Regarding Student Educational Progress During COVID-19

MESA has cosigned the American Sociological Association's statement asking institutions of higher education to be flexible with requirements and policies for students. We as scholarly societies encourage colleges and universities to offer all appropriate accommodations to students, given the uncertainty and stress caused by the unparalleled disruptions to our educational community.

- Interventions

April 14, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

MESA Intervention Concerning Academic Insecurity Caused by SARS-CoV-2

MESA calls on academic institutions to protect both the labor rights and the academic freedom of students and scholars of the Middle East, particularly the most vulnerable among us, during the great uncertainty and new dangers caused by the lockdown and the shift to online teaching. Institutes of higher education need to develop policies that prioritize the intellectual rights and the internet security of faculty and students.

March 30, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

Statement on COVID-19 and Academic Labor

MESA has cosigned MLA's statement regarding academic labor and COVID-19, urging flexibility and empathy among faculty, students, and staff at institutions of higher education, including not only material support but also ethical imagination and commitment from academic institutes to both the individual and shared challenges facing our communities during this unprecedented pandemic.

March 24, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

Review and Reappointment Processes For Tenure Line and Contingent Faculty During the COVID-19 Crisis

The Middle East Studies Association (MESA), in collaboration with scholarly societies led by the American Sociological Association (ASA), commends institutions of higher education for quickly taking steps to deal with the COVID-19 crisis and encourages all universities and colleges to consider appropriate temporary adjustments to their review and reappointment processes for tenure line and contingent faculty.

- Interventions

March 05, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

MESA Board letter to Durham University concerning BRISMES

The Board of Directors has issued an open letter to Durham University regarding the Vice Chancellor's decision to withdraw administrative services from the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), following the society’s vote on a resolution in favor of supporting the academic boycott of Israel last year. MESA is gravely concerned over the implications for academic freedom and freedom of expression over controversial issues — not only for our colleagues engaged in Middle East studies in Britain, but also for British academia more broadly.

February 14, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

Open letter to the SGDSN concerning archival declassification in France

MESA joins 16 other associations from across the globe in concern for the recent policy changes by the Secrétariat général de la défense et de la sécurité nationale (SGDSN), imposing limitations on access to documents from 1940 to present, which includes all those held at the French Ministry of Defense Archives at Vincennes, and the possible extension to other archives with previously classified documents.

February 10, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

Joint Statement on Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Investigations into NYU and UCLA

The Middle East Studies Association is joined by seven fellow associations of the American Council of Learned Societies in deep concern over the continued politicization of the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights and the threat that its ongoing investigations into New York University and the University of California, Los Angeles represents to academic freedom. Political speech is and must remain constitutionally protected in the United States, and should not be conflated with bigotry for partisan political purposes. We condemn racism in all forms, and oppose in the strongest possible terms any form of discrimination against or harassment of Jewish students. The government's instrumentalization and abuse of the issue of anti-Semitism is an unwelcome intrusion at our institutions of higher education, intending to intimidate faculty and police political debates on campuses.

February 06, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

MESA signs open letter by SAH in opposition to proposed EO “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again”

MESA joins SAH statement as a signatory with other concerned academic associations following the proposed Executive Order regarding design and structure of federal buildings.

January 07, 2020
Letters and Statements from the Board

MESA signs joint letter from the AAA opposing American presidential threats to commit war crimes by targeting cultural sites in Iran

MESA joins AAA statement "Targeting Cultural Sites is a War Crime" as a signatory with other concerned academic associations following recent presidential threats to Iran.

November 14, 2019
Letters and Statements from the Board

MESA Board Statement Condemns Anti-Semitism and Affirms the Protection of Free Speech

November 14, 2019 MESA Board statement concerning the protection of academic freedom, condemning anti-Semitism and all other forms of discrimination and illegal harassment, while affirming the constitutional protection of free speech.

- US

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