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Daniel Pipes: Defund Middle East Studies

Daniel Pipes, in the NY Sun (Feb. 24, 2004):

Here's a prime example, one that involves me personally, of how the radical Left and the Islamists, those new best friends, readily deceive.

It has to do with a proposed piece of U.S. legislation passed by the House, the"International Studies in Higher Education Act of 2003," known familiarly as H.R. 3077, and awaiting action by the Senate. H.R. 3077 calls for the creation of an advisory board to review the way in which roughly US$100 million in taxpayer money is spent annually on area studies, including Middle East studies, at the university level.

This board is needed for two reasons: Middle East studies are a failed field and the academics who consume these funds also happen to allocate them — a classic case of unaccountability. The purpose of this subsidy, which Congress increased by 26% after 9/11, is to help the American government with exotic language and cultural skills. Yet many universities reject this role, dismissing it as training"spies."

Martin Kramer pointed to the need for Congressional intervention in his 2001 book, Ivory Towers on Sand . Stanley Kurtz picked up the idea and made it happen in Washington, testifying at a key House hearing in June 2003.

My role in promoting this advisory board? Writing one favorable sentence on it eight months ago, based on an expectation that the board creates some accountability and helps Congress carry out its own intent. While hoping the Senate passes H.R. 3077, I have otherwise done nothing to praise or lobby for this bill.

Well, that's the record. But why should mere facts get in the way? Seemingly convinced that turning H.R. 3077 into my personal initiative will help defeat it in the Senate, leftist and Islamist organizations have imaginatively puffed up my role.

  • The American Civil Liberties Union accuses me of"enlisting the aid of the government" to impose my views on academia.
  • The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee titles its alert"Academic Freedom Under Attack by Pipes and Big Brother."
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations states that I am"actively pushing" for the advisory board.