• Press Releases

Knight Institute Asks Court to Block Trump Policy of Deporting Students and Faculty for Lawful Speech: AAUP and Middle East Studies Association say policy clearly violates the First Amendment

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) today filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in their 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.

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MESA, AAUP, and Knight Institute file lawsuit over Trump policy of arresting and threatening deportation for lawful speech

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.

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  • News

Middle East Scholars Announce 2022 Academic Freedom Award Recipients

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.

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  • News

MESA Announces 2022 Award Recipients

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.

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Middle East Scholars Vote to Endorse BDS

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.

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  • News

Federal Court Blocks Trump Muslim Ban, Again

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.

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  • News

Joint Press Release: Response to Supreme Court canceling oral arguments in Muslim ban case

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:

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