{"id":2358802,"date":"2024-10-24T08:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/your-tax-dollars-are-funding-terrorist-apologists-at-universities\/"},"modified":"2024-10-24T08:03:55","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T12:03:55","slug":"your-tax-dollars-are-funding-terrorist-apologists-at-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/your-tax-dollars-are-funding-terrorist-apologists-at-universities\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Tax Dollars Are Funding Terrorist Apologists At Universities"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fyour-tax-dollars-are-funding-terrorist-apologists-at-universities%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2358802&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On October\u2064 7, protests erupted again at Columbia University, highlighting a trend \u2064of radical ideologies that have been \u2063gaining\u200d traction on U.S. campuses. These protests, marked\u2062 by anti-Israel sentiments, raise concerns over how <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">taxpayer money indirectly supports educational programs\u200b fostering<\/a> an &#8220;anti-colonial&#8221; worldview among students. <\/p>\n<p>The \u2062Department of Education (ED) has allocated substantial grants\u2014$283 \u2064million since 2020, with $22\u200d million targeting Middle Eastern studies\u2014to create a \u200cworkforce\u2063 familiar with\u200b local languages and geopolitics. However, critics argue that \u200bthis funding may inadvertently \u200dempower\u200d more anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p>Columbia\u2019s Middle East Institute has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/confirmed-employee-of-democrat-funded-group-submitted-clearly-fraudulent-voter-registrations-hidden-in-massive-batch-before-2020-election\/\" title=\"Confirmed: Democrat-funded employee submitted &#039;clearly fraudulent&#039; voter registrations in large batch before 2020 election.\">received significant\u2062 funding<\/a> and is home to controversial professors like Dr. Joseph\u200d Massad, who has publicly supported Hamas and criticized Western perspectives. Student evaluations\u2062 of his classes indicate a \u200dstrongly biased teaching style, steering discussions towards anti-Western narratives.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, \u2062Indiana\u2062 University and Georgetown \u200dUniversity, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ibram-x-kendis-43-million-antiracist-center-under-investigation-over-fund-mismanagement-complaints\/\" title=\"Ibram X. Kendi&#039;s M &#039;Antiracist&#039; Center Faces Probe for Fund Mismanagement.\">receiving substantial\u200d funding<\/a> for their Middle\u2063 Eastern programs, also feature professors involved in contentious activism. Indiana&#8217;s Dr. Abdulkader Sinno faced suspension for his ties\u200b to the pro-Palestinian movement, \u200cwhile \u200bGeorgetown\u2019s\u200b Dr. Fida Adely actively promotes Palestinian liberation through\u2062 her role in Faculty for Justice in Palestine and has been linked to radical rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p>these institutions raise questions\u2064 about the influence of academic funding on fostering divisive \u2062political\u2064 viewpoints, potentially\u200d undermining broader American \u200cinterests in \u200ceducation and diplomatic\u2062 engagement in the Middle East.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>As protestors once again gathered on the campus of Columbia University this Oct.7, it was a grim reminder of the radical ideas that have been incubating on campuses for decades and burst out into the open, sometimes violently, last year.<\/p>\n<p>As they piled onto public transit to take their anti-Israel chants downtown, it was also a reminder that &mdash; in ways large and small, direct and indirect &mdash; American taxpayers wind up funding all this. Their dollars trickle down to the programs and professors who have helped inculcate this anti-Western, &ldquo;anti-colonial&rdquo; worldview.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Education (ED), for example, awards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ed.gov\/grants-and-programs\/grants-higher-education\/ifle\/foreign-language-and-area-studies-program#Past-Awards-&amp;-Funding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">grants<\/a> to fund foreign studies programming and help students learn more obscure languages. <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1GM2wuQZyO7LH9ojZvZwt0IedgD0X1p-A\/edit?usp=sharing&amp;ouid=111388338445227517609&amp;rtpof=true&amp;sd=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$283 million has been spent<\/a> just since 2020, with $22 million focused particularly on Middle East programs. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The stated public benefit is turning out a larger pool of workers in the national security, foreign aid, and policy fields who can speak local languages, understand geopolitics, and represent American interests abroad.<\/p>\n<p>But a look at publicly available records suggests we may not always be advancing our national interests. We might instead be helping to turn out more of the same radical protestors more likely to side against the United States, Israel, and our allies they would sooner call &ldquo;settler colonialists.&rdquo; Each of the three top-funded Middle East programs in the country are home to a readily identified professor who has backed these ideas &mdash; and who has been highlighted on past ED grant applications.<\/p>\n<h2>Columbia University<\/h2>\n<p>At Columbia, where outspoken pro-Israel professor Shai Davidai <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/news\/columbia-bars-outspoken-pro-israel-professor-from-campus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">was recently barred<\/a> from campus, perhaps the most infamous academic still remains teaching: Dr. Joseph Massad. He <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/10\/16\/columbia-university-refuses-to-comment-on-growing-furor-over-professor-who-called-hamas-attack-awesome\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">proclaimed<\/a> that Hamas had achieved &ldquo;a stunning victory of the Palestinian resistance.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Columbia&rsquo;s Middle East Institute is the number-two funded program since 2020 ($2.8 million); Massad was named on a previous ED <a href=\"https:\/\/iris.ed.gov\/downloads\/applications\/P015A180080\/P015A180080_GrantApplication.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">grant application<\/a> among a number of faculty who were &ldquo;strong on contemporary politics, with tremendous geographic range.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A specific grant worth $653,632 funded <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/programs\/iegpsflasf\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fellowships<\/a> for students and led at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sipa.columbia.edu\/admissions-blog\/program-assistant-introduction-sara-bakhtiar-mia-21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">least one<\/a> to take Massad&rsquo;s class, &ldquo;Gender and Sexuality in the Arab World.&rdquo; While this student enjoyed learning about &ldquo;gender and feminist theories,&rdquo; others were less impressed.<\/p>\n<p>Critiques of Massad&rsquo;s classes published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meforum.org\/campus-watch\/7803\/student-comments-about-joseph-massad\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Middle East Forum<\/a> highlight his bias against both Israel and the West. Comments include:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The professor (and, shockingly, many of the students) tend to turn discussion sections into &lsquo;us vs. them&rsquo; blame game, where they list the West&rsquo;s various cultural crimes ad nauseum &hellip;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I worry about the people who enter the class with little to no knowledge of the topic and form their opinions based on Massad&rsquo;s lectures &hellip; The class is taught unethically, and should be renamed &lsquo;Why Palestinians Hate Israel.&rsquo;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Massad &hellip; &nbsp;takes a categorically anti-U.S. tack at every possible opportunity, and usually succeeds only at alienating his students.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>At risk of being too on the nose, he gave a 2002 campus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mei.columbia.edu\/mei-events-2000-09\/2002\/2\/6\/on-zionism-and-jewish-supremacy-with-joseph-massad-columbia-university-mealac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">talk<\/a> called &ldquo;On Zionism and Jewish Supremacy.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Indiana University<\/h2>\n<p>Indiana University hosts the only program better funded than Columbia ($2.84M); Hoosiers had campus unrest and a problem professor of their own.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Abdulkader Sinno was faculty advisor for the Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC), a student group that preposterously <a href=\"https:\/\/banks.house.gov\/uploadedfiles\/11.15.23_iu_campus_antisemtism_letter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claimed to support<\/a> &ldquo;our brothers and sisters being mass-murdered, tortured, killed and raped in Israel.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>They also <a href=\"https:\/\/banks.house.gov\/uploadedfiles\/11.15.23_iu_campus_antisemtism_letter.pdf\">protested for a ceasefire<\/a> with signs like &ldquo;Colonialism, Apartheid, Genecide [sic]&rdquo; and called Israelis &ldquo;occupiers.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Sinno crossed the administration when he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idsnews.com\/article\/2024\/01\/iu-political-science-professor-sinno-suspended-psc-administration-palestine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reserved<\/a> a room for a speaker to address PSC, falsely indicating the event was part of the Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures department, although its chair had declined. He later said it was an honest mistake.<\/p>\n<p>Sinno was subsequently suspended from teaching or advising student groups.<\/p>\n<p>Vice Provost Carrie Docherty <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idsnews.com\/article\/2024\/01\/iu-political-science-professor-sinno-suspended-psc-administration-palestine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told Sinno<\/a> in a letter, &ldquo;I have serious concerns about the effect your behavior may have on members of the campus community.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Docherty cited his conduct, judgment, and failure to follow school policies; more worrisome, she &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.idsnews.com\/article\/2024\/01\/iu-political-science-professor-sinno-suspended-psc-administration-palestine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">referred to instances of &lsquo;threatening&rsquo; behavior<\/a> toward a colleague and &lsquo;a number of bias reports&rsquo; filed against Sinno,&rdquo; but omitted finer details.<\/p>\n<p>After his suspension, an undeterred Sinno <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfyi.org\/news\/articles\/indiana-university-pamela-whitten-graduation-pro-palestinian-encampment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spoke<\/a> at an &ldquo;alternative&rdquo; graduation for pro-Palestinian activists in May.<\/p>\n<p>His name and resume were included in one of IU&rsquo;s ED grant <a href=\"https:\/\/iris.ed.gov\/downloads\/applications\/P015A180101\/P015A180101_GrantApplication.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">applications<\/a> and, like Massad, he remains teaching.<\/p>\n<h2>Georgetown University<\/h2>\n<p>Rounding out the top three, Georgetown University ($2.64M) is known for turning out plenty of future diplomats. Again, we quickly found a prominent professor with controversial ideas and ties.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gufaculty360.georgetown.edu\/s\/contact\/00336000014RXsSAAW\/fida-adely\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dr. Fida Adely<\/a> directs the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies within the School of Foreign Service and teaches &ldquo;education, labor, development, and gender in the Arab world.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But she&rsquo;s also on the National Advisory Board of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fjp-network.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Faculty for Justice (FJP) in Palestine<\/a>, whose members &ldquo;support the cause of Palestinian liberation through education, advocacy and action.&rdquo; FJP supports and &ldquo;amplifies&rdquo; Students for Justice in Palestine and similar &ldquo;pro-Palestinian&rdquo; groups.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, FJP members back the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement and seek to &ldquo;dismantle&rdquo; programs to study abroad in Israel.<\/p>\n<p>The group&rsquo;s &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fjp-network.org\/back-to-school-fall-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Back to School 2024<\/a>&rdquo; statement laments the &ldquo;mechanisms for suppressing speech, criminalizing protest and weaponizing fragility,&rdquo; claiming Israel&rsquo;s military campaign exposes &ldquo;the depths of settler colonial depravity.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>So, they&rsquo;ve mastered all the buzzwords.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, FJP works &ldquo;in close collaboration with&rdquo; staff from Birzeit University, a hotbed of radicalism in the West Bank. Members of the Hamas-affiliated &ldquo;Islamic Bloc&rdquo; have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/article-744135\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">won<\/a> the most seats on Birzeit&rsquo;s student council, while its Union of Professors and Employees <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jadaliyya.com\/Details\/45412\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declared<\/a> that 2023 would be remembered as &ldquo;the year that Palestinians stood boldly in the face of colonial fascism and screamed in defense of their homes, humanity, and lives.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The nonprofit Canary Mission <a href=\"https:\/\/canarymission.org\/professor\/Fida_Adely\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has compiled<\/a> plenty more on Adely, including a 2015 <a href=\"https:\/\/anthroboycott.wordpress.com\/2015\/11\/12\/dialogue-as-diversion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blog post<\/a> criticizing calls for more &ldquo;dialogue.&rdquo; She argues they only serve to &ldquo;disguise the real issues of settler-colonialism, oppression and occupation, and act as a kind of marketing tool rebranding the reality of separation and apartheid as a fantasy of &lsquo;coexistence.&rdquo; The piece includes now-rote accusations that Israel engaged in &ldquo;ethnic cleansing&rdquo; and created an &ldquo;open-air prison&rdquo; in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, Georgetown featured Adely as a &ldquo;select faculty expert&rdquo; on the university&rsquo;s Middle East and North Africa studies <a href=\"https:\/\/global-db-public.s3.amazonaws.com\/global-db-public\/independent_files\/GU_RegionalFactSheet_MENA_September2024_FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">factsheet<\/a> and on an ED <a href=\"https:\/\/global-db-public.s3.amazonaws.com\/global-db-public\/independent_files\/GU_RegionalFactSheet_MENA_September2024_FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">grant application<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Against our National Interest<\/h2>\n<p>So where&rsquo;s the scrutiny of these applications? During the Trump era, there&rsquo;s some evidence the administration was kicking the tires. After investigating the use of funds by a joint program of Duke and University of North Carolina, the Department of Education sent a 2019 letter demanding reform to its curriculum and spending.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2019\/09\/17\/2019-20067\/notice-of-a-letter-regarding-the-duke-unc-consortium-for-middle-east-studies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">letter<\/a> laments &ldquo;very little serious instruction preparing individuals to understand the geopolitical challenges to U.S. national security and economic needs but quite a considerable emphasis on advancing ideological priorities.&rdquo; Department officials said the program lacked balance of perspective and spent tax dollars on irrelevant activities, such as a conference called &ldquo;Love and Desire in Modern Iran.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But today, at the top-funded Middle East programs, it&rsquo;s still easy to find a litany of now-stereotypical red flags: BDS, anticolonialism, genocide claims &mdash; the works.<\/p>\n<p>This money is allocated to further America&rsquo;s national interest. But it&rsquo;s flowing to people who align themselves against our nation and its allies. Whether intentional or incompetent, the Department of Education is furthering intellectual subversion, not cultural immersion.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Amber Todoroff is deputy policy editor for OpenTheBooks.com, the nation&rsquo;s largest private database of public spending. She holds a master&rsquo;s degree from Oxford University.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protestors at Columbia University on Oct. 7 highlighted long-standing radical ideas that erupted violently last year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3484,"featured_media":2358803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/49656464777_deff84e74e_k-e1729562336629.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[35136,6513,37179,6039,10658],"class_list":["post-2358802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education-policy","tag-funding","tag-tax-dollars","tag-terrorism","tag-universities"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/49656464777_deff84e74e_k-e1729562336629.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3484"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2358802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2358803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2358802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2358802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2358802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}