U. Arizona Defends Misuse of Federal Funds for MidEast Studies

The University of Arizona’s Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) is dismissive of complaints that it misspends Title VI federal funds.

Rather than address Rep. Paul Gosar’s (R-AZ) objections that the University of Arizona used Title VI funds for BDS-supporting professors, University of Arizona administrators replied with a misleading letter denying the undeniable.Writing at JNS, two of the Middle East Forum’s directors expose Arizona’s sleight of hand.

Those concerned with the state of Middle East studies have a litany of common complaints: politicized professors that teach fringe academic theories, rampant anti-Semitism masking as criticism of Israel, instant capitulation to political correctness concerning radical Islam and so on. One aspect that is less often discussed is the total lack of transparency into how Middle East studies is financed.

Take the recent case of the University of Arizona’s Center for Middle East Studies (CMES).

In late February, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) sent a letter to the Department of Education and CMES, concerned that funds concerning Title VI of the Higher Education Act (HEA) were going to “support biased, anti-American, pro-BDS faculty and research.” This, he rightly claimed, would be violation of the purpose, and even the letter, of the law concerning Title VI funds. Title VI funds are intended to “develop a pool of international experts to meet national needs,” in the field of “international studies and world languages,” and must “reflect diverse perspective and a wide range of views.”

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Title VI Duke University University of Notre Dame University of Arizona Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) George Mason University

Winfield Myers

Winfield Myers is managing editor of the Middle East Forum and director of its Campus Watch project, which reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North American universities. He has taught world history and other topics at the University of Michigan, the University of Georgia, Tulane, and Xavier University of Louisiana. He was previously managing editor of The American Enterprise magazine and CEO of Democracy Project, Inc., which he co-founded. Mr. Myers has served as senior editor and communications director at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and is principal author and editor of a college guide, Choosing the Right College (1998, 2001). He was educated at the University of Georgia, Tulane, and the University of Michigan.