What's Going on in the Academy

ASMEA has compiled a list of articles related to the current discourse we are observing on campus specially regarding Middle East Studies and African Studies.

• Why Fixing Mideast Studies is Key to Fixing US Universities, RealClearEducation, 5/17/26
• Has Columbia University Learned Anything From Its Middle East Studies Fiasco?, The Investigative Project on Terrorism, 3/30/26
• Columbia Faculty Recommend Anti-Israel Professor for Middle Eastern Studies Position, The Free Press, 3/26/26
• Education & Workforce Committee Releases Bombshell Report on Antisemitism in Higher Ed, 3/17/26
• She Was Dismissed From a Leadership Post at Harvard. Now She's a Candidate for Columbia's Edward Said Chair in Arab Studies, The Washington Free Beacon, 2/9/26.
• Longtime higher ed leader Gordon Gee says fear, not free speech, is ruling America’s campuses, Jewish Insider, 11/3/25
• The Battle for the University: Why I Chose ASMEA Over MESA, The Times of Israel, 10/25/26
• I’ve been a college president and higher education needs to embrace diversity of beliefs, Fox News, 10/20/25
• With No Easy Fixes for Middle East Studies, It’s Time for New Programs, Mosaic Magazine, 8/25/25
• The Campus Intifada Is a Golden Opportunity for Those Who Study Israel Seriously, Mosaic Magazine, 8/25/25
• History of bad faith: Columbia’s pledge to fight antisemitism can’t be trusted - opinion, The Jerusalem Post, 7/30/25
• A Personal Journey Through the Middle East, The Editors, 7/18/25
• A New Hope for Middle Eastern Studies, The Wall Street Journal, 6/17/25
• 'Globalize the Intifada': Scholars Link DC Murder of Israeli Embassy Aides to Campus Antisemitism, Incitement, The Algemeiner, 5/23/25
• Whats next for Middle East studies? The Washington Times, 4/28/25
• The Universities: What is to be done? The Times of Israel, 4/16/25
• The Godfather of the Campus Intifada, The Free Press, 4/4/25
• Columbia University President Denies Deceiving Trump Administration Over Antisemitism Policies, The Algemeiner, 3/25/25
• Trump’s war on Columbia comes for Middle East studies, Jewish Insider, 3/20/25
• Columbia University's Anti-Semitism Problem, The Atlantic, 3/17/25
• Call the feds on higher education, The Washington Examiner, 2/28/25
• Life at Columbia U: Pro-Palestinian protestors disrupt Israel history class, vandalism - opinion, The Jerusalem Post, 2/24/25
• How Biden fueled a 200% surge in antisemitism, Israel Hayom, 2/21/25
• Deporting pro-terror protestors will restore order to lawless campuses, New York Post, 2/2/25
• 'Then masked men walked into my class at Columbia University', Ynet, 1/22/25
• Columbia University course on Israel disrupted by Palestinian protesters on first day of class, Jewish Insider, 1/21/25
• Biden’s Radical Reading, Commentary, 12/3/24
• How intifada and razzia shape the Palestinian struggle and global perception – opinion, The Jerusalem Post, 12/3/24
• Senate Republicans question Department of Education Middle East studies grants. Jewish Insider, 11/15/24
• Harvard’s Antisemitism Begins in the Classroom, The Wall Street Journal, 9/27/24
• Bernard Lewis: Remade in America, The Times of Israel, 9/11/24
• What Is at Stake in an Academic Boycott?, Inside Higher Ed, 9/6/24
• Get ready for another semester of the Tentifada, The Hill, 8/30/24
• American Campuses Threaten Students and the Nation, The American Spectator, 8/26/24
• The AAUP Abandons Academic Freedom, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/13/24
• The Child Soldiers of Ethnic Studies, Tablet Magazine, 6/25/24
• The College Campus Tentifada: How It Started, Why It Matters, and How to Curb It, Hudson Institute, 5/7/24
• Upend the Department, City Journal, 4/16/24
• Field of Fire: Fifty Years in Middle East Studies, Clarity with Michael Oren, 4/11/24
• Middle East Studies: How did a demanding academic discipline become a haven for activism? SAPIR, Winter 2024
• The way to address antisemitism on college campuses is to defund and deport - opinion, The Jerusalem Post, 3/22/24
• The Takeover, Tablet Magazine, 2/26/24
• Georgetown’s Extremist Turn, City Journal, 2/23/24
• Video: Complex Politics of Israel on Campus, The Washington Institute of Near East Policy, 12/21/23
• The Crisis in Higher Education and Advice for Donors, RealClearWorld, 12/21/23
• Anti-Israel Activism in American Universities II: Middle Eastern Studies and Israel Studies, The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, November 2023
• Anti-Israel Activism in American Universities I: The Advent of Anti-Israel Sentiment on Campus, The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, November 2023
• A specter haunting the university, Jewish News Syndicate, 11/27/23
• A Voice of Sanity in the Campus Effort to Demonize Israel, The Algemeiner, 11/22/23
• The academy promotes Hamas, Jewish News Syndicate, 11/13/23
• Are 'Palestine Scholars' Really Denied Academic Freedom?, IPT News, 10/5/23
• George Washington University Still Has an Anti-Semitism Problem, IPT News, 8/23/23
• Princeton University Course Features Book By Professor Accused of Promoting Blood Libels, Jewish Journal, 8/14/23
• MESA’s Anti-Semitism Got Evicted—But American Academia Has a Long Way to Go, Minding the Campus, 8/1/23
• American Anthropological Association boycott of Israel will be to its detriment - opinion, The Jerusalem Post, 7/30/23
• ‘A Step Toward Eradicating Antisemitism on Campus’: George Washington University Ends Partnership with Middle East Studies Association, The Algemeiner, 7/24/23
• Middle East Studies Association Expelled from George Washington University, IPT News, 7/24/23
• The flight from MESA, Sandbox, 3/27/23 - Updated: 7/24/23
• To boycott or not to boycott?, Sandbox, 3/15/23
• GOP senators accuse Education Department of allowing ‘taxpayer-funded antisemitism’ on college campuses, Fox News Digital, 3/8/23
• Rewarding anti-Israel radicalism at San Francisco State University, Jewish News Syndicate, 1/25/23
• SFSU Prof Abdulhadi Wins Middle East Studies Award, Jewish Journal, 1/11/23
• University of Chicago Students for Justice in Palestine to Boycott Course Taught by Former IDF General, The Algemeiner, 1/11/23
• 2022: Academia's Worst Year Yet? The American Spectator, 1/4/23
• Anti-Zionist Protestors Disrupt CUNY Event on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, The Algemeiner, 12/9/22
• The Navel-Gazing Inanities of MESA, National Review, 12/1/22
• Israel boycotters convene in Denver, Sandbox, 12/1/22
• Overwhelming Majority of Middle East Scholars Support Boycotting Israel, New Survey Shows, The Algemeiner, 11/22/22
• What Middle East scholars really think about boycotting Israel, The Washington Post, 11/22/22
• Education Department funding Middle East Studies Centers pushing 'anti-West ideologies': new report, Just the News, 11/13/22
• The Hijacking of Middle East Studies, Tablet Magazine, 11/4/22
• Edward Said's Jews, Tablet Magazine, 11/1/22
• Middle East Studies Centers Captured by Activists, National Association of Scholars, 10/6/22
• GOP Probes Academic Group After It Defends Professor Who Blamed Rushdie Attack on Israel, The Washington Free Beacon, 9/15/22
• An academic mission not entirely impossible, The Times of Israel, 9/6/22
• It’s Time To Implement Trump’s Executive Order On “Combating Anti-Semitism,” Legal Insurrection, 8/20/22
• Israel Studies Has an Israel Problem, Sapir, Vol. 6, Summer 2022
• Middle East Professors Boycott Israel — Where’s the Moral Outrage?, The Algemeiner, 6/8/22
• Twin Towers and Ivory Towers, 20 Years Later, Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2022
• Eyal Zisser on the American Universities after American Academics Opted for BDS, Middle East Forum, 4/8/22
• Israel will find it hard to prevail in the face of intellectual antisemitism, ynetnews, 4/8/22
• 12 Universities Urged to Drop Middle East Studies Association Over BDS Endorsement, The Algemeiner, 4/6/22
• The incredible shrinking MESA, Sandbox, 4/1/22
• Israel-Boycotting Middle East Studies Association Loses Another Institutional Member, Takes Down Membership List, Legal Insurrection, 3/31/22
• MESA Partner Web Page Down as Schools Cut Ties Over Israel Boycott, The Algemeiner, 3/29/22
• The Middle East Studies Association Betrays Academia, Minding the Campus, 3/29/22
• Brandeis Disassociates from MESA Following Passage of Pro-BDS Resolution, Jewish Journal, 3/28/22
• MESA's Israel boycott encapsulates everything wrong with academia - opinion, The Jerusalem Post, 3/26/22
• Brandeis dissociates from Middle Eastern Scholars Association, BrandeisNOW, 3/24/22
• Academic watchdog groups blast MESA for adoption of BDS resolution against Israel, Jewish News Syndicate, 3/24/22
• Middle East Studies Association Votes to Boycott Israel, The Algemeiner, 3/23/22
• Thousands of Middle East scholars sign resolution endorsing boycott of Israel, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 3/23/22
• Middle East Studies Association Endorses BDS, Jewish Journal, 3/23/22
• MESA's decision to adopt BDS is wrong - opinion, The Jerusalem Post, 3/22/22
• Study: Antisemitism Far More Likely At Schools With Faculty Members That Support BDS, Jewish Journal, 3/21/2022
• Middle East Studies Association Losing Institutional Members As Anti-Israel Boycott Resolution Voting Starts, Legal Insurrection, 2/9/2022
• Will George Washington U Let Middle East Studies Ass’n Operate International Anti-Israel Academic Boycott From Its HQ On GWU’s Campus?, Legal Insurrection, 1/25/2022
• University of Arizona, Florida State University End MESA Ties Amid Israel Boycott Debate, The Algemeiner, 1/18/22
• Florida State Drops Middle East Studies Association Membership As Group Moves Towards Israel Boycott, Legal Insurrection, 1/16/2022
• Middle East Studies Association’s members may face legal jeopardy over Israel boycott, Jewish News Syndicate, 12/30/21
• DeSantis Office: Florida Opposes Middle East Studies Association Conducting BDS Anti-Israel Academic Boycott Through FSU, Legal Insurrection, 12/22/21
• Progressive Academics Denounce Middle East Studies Association BDS Resolution, The Algemeiner, 12/21/21
• MESA’s proposed boycott of Israeli universities indicative of ‘spreading intellectual intolerance’, Jewish News Syndicate, 12/15/21
• Middle East Studies Association Moves Toward Endorsing BDS Academic Boycott Against Israel, Legal Insurrection, 12/12/21
• Middle East Studies Association’s anti-Jewish BDS backing is a frontal attack on academic freedom, NYPost.com, 12/10/21
• US Mideast academic group opposes MESA’s BDS activity, The Jerusalem Post, 12/7/21
• Academic Freedom Is Under Siege by Anti-Israel Politics, Commentary, 12/6/21
• Boycotting Israel at the Middle East Studies Association, The National Interest, 12/4/2021