February 11, 2005

Columbia's Troubles, Cont.

Columbia University's troubles with its Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures Department continue unabated. Today's NY Sun reports that the school's chairman, David Stern, has voiced his confidence in president Lee Bollinger's administrative efforts to "steer the university past a damaging public relations crisis involving Jewish students and anti-Israel professors . . . ."

Speaking publicly about the issue for the first time, Mr. Stern, who attended Columbia's law school, defended Columbia as an Ivy League trailblazer when it comes to relations with Jewish students. "For those who see some virulent anti-Semitic history and customs, or whatever, at Columbia, I would remind them that when quotas were abolished, Columbia was first to accept Jewish students," said Mr. Stern. As chairman of the board, he is essentially Mr. Bollinger's boss.

Bollinger has appointed a committee to look into charges brought by students that the department employs professors with an anti-Israeli bias, and that some students have been intimidated into silence and, in one instance, even ordered not to defend Israel in the classroom.

The Sun continues:

Columbia's vice president for arts and sciences, Nicholas Dirks, said the purpose of such a committee is to help departments "overcome specific challenges." He said the one advising the Middle East studies department "will independently advise and work the department chair and me." The chairman of the department is Marc Van De Mieroop, a professor of ancient Near East history.

The committee members are a professor of philosophy, Akeel Bilgrami; a professor of South Asian art, Vidya Dehejia; an Arab studies professor, Rashid Khalidii, a sociologist, Gil Eyal; and an anthropology scholar, Brinkley Messick. Two of the professors, Messrs. Messick and Bilgrami, signed a 2002 petition condemning Israel and calling for Columbia to divest itself from companies that sell arms and military hardware to the Jewish state.

Mr. Khalidi's professorship was named after Edward Said, a Columbia scholar and author of "Orientalism," and was paid for partly with a donation from the United Arab Emirates.

I took a graduate seminar in post-colonial studies from Nicholas (Nick) Dirks years ago at Michigan. I recall his as affable, fair-minded, and smart. He published his Chicago dissertation on ancient Indian kingdoms with Cambridge Press, so I have no doubt of his academic bona fides. He was also becoming quite taken with postcolonialism, although his level of infatuation seemed mild, in hindsight, compared with that of Edward Said and his disciples. I first encountered Said in that class. I knew Nick had left Michigan for Columbia in the '90s, but until today I didn't know he'd climbed quite so high up the administrative ladder.

Ryan Sager has an op-ed in the NY Post, in which he reports on dissatisfaction among some faculty members with the composition of the aforementioned committee. The concerned profs have issued a report which, according to Sager:

As the group's report details, out of five members on Bollinger's committee: two signed an anti-Israel divestment petition, one was the thesis adviser for Joseph Massad (a professor prominently accused of wrongdoing), one has written that Israel is responsible for global anti-Semitism and one is a university administrator who ignored student complaints for months. The man who handpicked the committee, Nick Dirks, is married to a professor who co-teaches a class with Massad.

The group is Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, and its web site says there are "over 550 members, representing 200 campuses worldwide; 19 of these campuses now have their own SPME Chapters." The conflict of interest with Dirks's wife seems clear, and Bollinger might have chosen another lieutenant to form the committee.

Martin Kramer has an informative post on the whole affair. He takes issue with Joel Migdal of the U. of Washington's characterization of Columbia's Middle East faculty as having "a lot of diversity in the professors teaching about the Middle East, even politically." Kramer is always worth checking out in matters concerning Middle East studies anywhere in the world.

— Winfield Myers

| Feb. 11, 2005 | 6:40 PM