The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) today filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members who participate in pro-Palestinian protests and other protected First Amendment activities.
MESA’s Academic Freedom Initiative will support data collection and analysis as well as dissemination of findings regarding academic freedom in the context of scholarship and teaching in Middle East studies.
Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies Welcomes the MESA Secretariat
The 2023 MESA Academic Freedom Award has been goes to Professor Abduljalil Al-Singace for his unwavering courage and steadfastness in the face of more than a decade of repression and torture
On November 3, 2023, MESA awarded 21 individuals for excellence in scholarship, mentoring, and service.
The 2022 MESA Academic Freedom Award has been given to 6 Palestinian NGOs — Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International - Palestine, Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees — for their decades-long pursuit of academic freedom, courageous resilience, and contributions to the field of Middle East Studies.
On December 2, 2022, MESA awarded 17 individuals for excellence in scholarship, mentoring, and service, and to 6 Palestinian NGO's for their decades-long pursuit of academic freedom, courageous resilience, and contributions to the field of Middle East Studies.
The membership of MESA has voted in favor of a resolution endorsing the Palestinian call for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions of Israel as a way to hold the government accountable for ongoing human rights violations. MESA’s Board of Directors will implement it in a manner consistent with MESA’s bylaws as well as relevant U.S. federal, state, and local laws. The resolution states that the boycott will not target individual students or scholars, and reiterates the right of individual MESA members to choose whether or not they wish to participate in an academic boycott of Israeli institutions.
The 2021 MESA Academic Freedom Award has been given to the student and faculty protest movement at Boğaziçi University.
On December 1, 2021, MESA awarded 20 individuals for excellence in scholarship, mentoring, and service, and to faculty, students, and alumni of Boğaziçi University for defending academic freedom
Fourteen individuals in nine categories including the Academic Freedom Award, Mentoring, Service, and three book awards, were honored at MESA's 2020 Awards Ceremony held October 11, 2020,
MESA awarded 14 individuals for excellence in scholarship, mentoring, service, and defending academic freedom on October 11, 2020.
Press release regarding MESA's first virtual conference (#MESA2020), which will take place live October 5-17, 2020.
The 2019 MESA Academic Freedom Award has been given to Canadian anthropologist Dr. Homa Hoodfar of Concordia University.
At its 53rd annual meeting in New Orleans, MESA's Board of Directors issued a statement affirming the protection of academic freedoms.
MESA and other scholarly organizations have written to Israeli authorities regarding procedures for visas and work permits for international academics working in Palestine.
A federal court in Maryland has rejected the Trump administration’s bid to outright dismiss IRAP v. Trump, a lawsuit challenging the president’s Muslim ban executive order that bars people from select Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the United States.
2018 MESA Academic Freedom Award given to Saudi scholar, writer, and women's rights advocate, Dr. Hatoon Ajwad Al Fassi
MESA awarded 12 individuals for excellence in scholarship, mentoring, service, and defending academic freedom on November 16, 2018.
At its 52nd annual meeting in San Antonio, MESA's Board of Directors issued a statement affirming commitment to fight Antisemitism as a form of racism.
At its 52nd annual meeting, MESA's Board of Directors issued a statement of concern on the deteriorating security conditions for researchers in the United Arab Emirates.
Press release from MESA’s Committee on Academic Freedom: "Committee on Academic Freedom Shines Light on Secretive Website that Defames Students; Offers Resource for College Leaders to Take Action
A federal court in Maryland blocked President Trump’s latest Muslim ban from going into effect today. This follows a federal court in Hawaii issuing a similar ruling on Tuesday in another challenge. The Middle East Studies Association, represented by the ACLU, had been in court Monday in Maryland with its fellow plaintiffs to challenge this latest version of the ban — the president’s third such attempt.
Today, the Supreme Court removed Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project from the oral argument calendar. The parties are now required to submit briefs by October 5 to determine the impact of last night’s proclamation amending the previous executive order.
In response to these developments, plaintiffs and counsel in Trump v. IRAP issued the following statements:
The U.S. Supreme Court today granted, in part, the Trump administration’s request to allow some provisions of its Muslim ban to go into effect in 72 hours. The Court will allow the ban to be applied only to individuals with no connection to any person or entity in the U.S. In an unsigned order issued on the Court’s last day before its summer recess, the justices scheduled oral arguments in the case for when they return in October.