Tonight, Rashid Khalidi appears with Arthur Hertzberg on a panel at New York University. The subject: "Academic Freedom in a Time of Conflict." I've written about both speakers and their relationship over at Sandstorm, under the title "The Day the Rabbi Rescued Rashid." The subject tonight is academic freedom, but that's not the issue. On …
Tag: Rashid Khalidi
The Day the Rabbi Rescued Rashid
The spotlight in the Columbia crisis has shifted to Professor Rashid Khalidi, director of Columbia's Middle East Institute and the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies. He's not a part of the reeking mess over at the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) department, where extremist professors stand accused of browbeating their students. …
The rise and fall of the third-rate
The Jerusalem Post runs an article today about the new Middle East center at Brandeis University, with a choice quote on Middle Eastern studies from university president Jehuda Reinharz: "My problem is not the anti-Zionism or even that many of them are anti-American, but that they are third-rate. The quality of the people [in Middle …
Saving Private Massad
Fiascos at Columbia University follow one another in a dizzying succession. This week's episode opens tonight at the Law School, where four academics will solemnly consider a burning question. No, it's not how to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which is the present mission of armies of diplomats and statesmen. It's this: "Is the two-state …
Dr. Rashid and Mr. Khalidi
Rashid Khalidi, in denouncing The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, ends up discrediting himself.
Concealment Continues at Columbia
"An outrageous Israeli, Martin Kramer, uses his website to attack everybody who says anything he doesn't like." That's Edward Said speaking, in an interview in a new collection entitled (predictably) Culture and Resistance. I would take it as a compliment, if I didn't already know how easily Professor Said is outraged. But it's a valuable …
Professorial Pundits Place Iraq Bets
The war is underway, and most of the rationales for and against it are based on predictions. No one reasonably expects professors of Middle Eastern studies to predict military outcomes. But political outcomes, especially in the long term, are supposed to be their forte. And so here, for the record, are the predictions of four …
Bir Zeit-on-Hudson
Two weekends ago, Columbia University hosted a Palestinian film festival. I have nothing against such festivals, which have been held over the past year in Seattle and Chicago. Some of the films are worthy examples of the art. But of course, Columbia's faculty can be counted upon to give a legitimate exercise the flavor of …
Rashid Redux
Congratulations to Columbia University, for bagging Rashid Khalidi, University of Chicago historian, to fill the new Edward Said Chair of Middle Eastern Studies. The still-anonymous donors must be very pleased. Now that the deal is done, Khalidi has resurfaced, to take a stand on a possible war against Saddam. As it happened, I spent the …
The Columbia Club of Middle Eastern Studies
Things go from bad to worse at Columbia University, the Bir Zeit of American academe. Articles in yesterday’s Chicago Sun-Times and in today’s New York Sun report that Professor Rashid Khalidi of the University of Chicago is weighing an offer to join Columbia University, as the Edward Said Professor (of God-only-knows—there are no precise details). …
Continue reading The Columbia Club of Middle Eastern Studies
You must be logged in to post a comment.