This is long overdue: “The Trump administration is threatening to cut funding for a Middle East studies program run by the University of North Carolina and Duke University, claiming that it’s misusing a federal grant to advance ‘ideological priorities’ and unfairly promote ‘the positive aspects of Islam’ but not Christianity or Judaism.”
There are courses of this kind in universities and colleges all over the country, and have been for years without any pushback. None of the academic institutions that promote this Islamic proselytizing should receive any federal funding at all. Universities and colleges from great to insignificant, from Stanford University in California to Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, have long been radioactive wastelands of Leftist indoctrination and Islamic apologetics in an increasingly totalitarian and threatening atmosphere. They need to be cut off. They need to be cut off immediately. They need to be cut off yesterday.
As it happens, I took a UNC/Duke graduate course on Islam back in 1985, when I was a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Even that many years ago, the violent aspects of Islamic doctrine were downplayed and whitewashed. There is no doubt whatsoever that in the intervening years, the impulse to absolve Islam of all responsibility for the crimes committed in its name and in accord with its teachings has only intensified.
“Jay Smith, a history professor at UNC and vice president of its chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said that the Education Department official who signed the letter threatening funding, Robert King, “should stay in his lane and allow the experts to determine what constitutes a ‘full understanding’ of the Middle East.”
“Experts.” Yeah. Everyone at this point should be wary of what historian Christopher Dummitt calls “the so-called proof presented by alleged experts.” He notes, in a fascinating article about his own promotion of currently fashionable gender fictions, that his “own flawed reasoning was never called out—and, in fact, only became more ideologically inflected through the process of peer review.” Yes, and that is happening in every academic department.
“DeVos Threatens College Funding Due to Islam Course,” Associated Press, September 20, 2019 (thanks to Henry):
(AP) — The Trump administration is threatening to cut funding for a Middle East studies program run by the University of North Carolina and Duke University, claiming that it’s misusing a federal grant to advance “ideological priorities” and unfairly promote “the positive aspects of Islam” but not Christianity or Judaism.
An Aug. 29 letter from the U.S. Education Department orders the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies to revise its offerings by Sept. 22 or risk losing funding from a federal grant that’s awarded to dozens of universities to support foreign language instruction. The consortium received $235,000 from the grant last year, according to Education Department data.
A statement from the UNC-Chapel Hill said the consortium “deeply values its partnership with the Department of Education” and is “committed to working with the department to provide more information about its programs.” Officials at Duke declined to comment. The Education Department declined to say whether it’s examining similar programs at other schools.
Academic freedom advocates say the government could be setting a dangerous precedent if it injects politics into funding decisions. Some said they had never heard of the Education Department asserting control over such minute details of a program’s offerings.
“Is the government now going to judge funding programs based on the opinions of instructors or the approach of each course?” asked Henry Reichman, chairman of a committee on academic freedom for the American Association of University Professors.
“The odor of right-wing political correctness that comes through this definitely could have a chilling effect.”
More than a dozen universities receive National Resource Center grants for their Middle East programs, including Columbia, Georgetown, Yale and the University of Texas. The Duke-UNC consortium was founded in 2005 and first received the grant nearly a decade ago.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos ordered an investigation of the program in June after North Carolina Rep. George Holding, a Republican, complained that it hosted a taxpayer-funded conference with “severe anti-Israeli bias and anti-Semitic rhetoric.”
The conference, titled “Conflict Over Gaza: People, Politics and Possibilities,” included a rapper who performed a “brazenly anti-Semitic song,” Holding said in an April 15 letter….
In the UNC-Duke case, the department’s findings did not directly address any bias against Israel, but evaluated whether the consortium’s proposed activities met the goals of the National Resource Center program, which was created in 1965 to support language and culture initiatives that prepare students for careers in diplomacy and national security.
Investigators concluded that the consortium intended to use federal money on offerings that are “plainly unqualified for taxpayer support,” and that foreign language and national security instruction have “taken a back seat to other priorities.” The department cited several courses, conferences and academic papers that it said have “little or no relevance” to the grant’s goals.
“Although a conference focused on ‘Love and Desire in Modern Iran’ and one focused on Middle East film criticism may be relevant in academia, we do not see how these activities support the development of foreign language and international expertise for the benefit of U.S. national security and economic stability,” the letter said.
Investigators also saw a disconnect between the grant’s mission and some academic papers by scholars at the consortium. They objected to one paper titled “Performance, Gender-Bending and Subversion in the Early Modern Ottoman Intellectual History,” and another titled “Radical Love: Teachings from Islamic Mystical Tradition.”
The letter accused the consortium of failing to provide a “balance of perspectives” on religion. It said there is “a considerable emphasis” placed on “understanding the positive aspects of Islam, while there is an absolute absence of any similar focus on the positive aspects of Christianity, Judaism or any other religion or belief system in the Middle East.”
It added that there are few offerings on discrimination faced by religious minorities in the Middle East, “including Christians, Jews, Baha’is, Yadizis, Kurds, Druze and others.” Department officials said the grant’s rules require programs to provide a “full understanding” of the regions they study.
Jay Smith, a history professor at UNC and vice president of its chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said the letter amounts to “ideologically driven harassment.”
He said the Education Department official who signed the letter, Robert King, “should stay in his lane and allow the experts to determine what constitutes a ‘full understanding’ of the Middle East.”…
gravenimage says
Trump administration threatens funding for UNC/Duke course promoting Islam
………………………
*Good*. We should not be paying for Da’wa.
mortimer says
Thanks, Pres. Trump. Sober sanity should be reintroduced into the discussion of Islam and its all-too-real problems.
Infidel says
Yeah. Plus I’d like to see them go ahead and merge the education and labor departments. The sole reason government should be there at all should be to see that colleges prepare students for the work force, not as activists for the ranks of the climate jihadists that we saw today.
Rob says
When
I read things like this I get a sickening feeling. ‘How did we let it get this far?’
What happened to that old undergrad paper ‘Comparative Religions 101’?
smoris says
The U.S. federal government has no role in the field of education, other than raining military personnel to protect our country and our people. This is a good reason why the federal department of education should be shut down. Just imagine the garbage that our tax dollars are supporting, with a national debt that has gone completely out of control and off the rails. Stop this immediately. Close the National Endowment for the Arts, the Department of Education and every other department and program not specifically authorized by the Constitution. We could save trillions of dollars and maybe even our freedom.
Roderick Hackney says
Thank you for your comment hope others see this. You are so right.
Wallace says
The federal government gives funds to theses schools that promote the socialist agenda promotes intolerance and hate if someone doesn’t agree with you on their socialist views. We need more governemt over site as teachers and profressors promote their ideology than teach. They are educators and not politicians.
fredoniahead says
Here Trump is defending the Muslims China is persecuting. China is going to be a major issue in time to come. Most people live in fantasy land and naively believe nothing will ever happen. Think again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhDsQIFgh3E
gravenimage says
Muslims and Communists are both totalitarians.
Vinny says
Under no circumstances should any form of Islam ever be taught on American soil in any American educational system, private or public. That would run parallel with suicide.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Of course this threat is justified, and Trump should make good on it once Duke and UNC fail to go balanced objective by accounting for the salient facts of Islam both positive and negative.
And, oh the irony, UNC is Spencer’s alma mater. I believe that’s where he learned Arabic.
Here’s an idea: the federal government gives funds only for STEM programs. Sure, the STEM professors will inculcate and brainwash at will just like their liberal arts brethren, but at least there’d be a benefit to the taxpayers of paying for grads with STEM degrees.
Me says
Yes !!! Cut them Off completely !!!
Spiro says
AMEN
tgusa says
It disgusts me that my hard earned dollars are being given to these discriminatory ideologically driven left wing institutions. It is gross misappropriation of tax payer dollars.
Dwayne Barber says
Yikes! You’d rather give your hard earned money to ppl who already has your money! ( Banks & Government)! While America’s infrastructure is being pulled a part by a trump who has done anything with your money you can see!
Call Islam wht you want. See it as you please. Recall; you are different here in America yourself!
gravenimage says
What crap from Dwayne Barber–tgusa said no such thing.
Then, Dwayne here never says how promoting Islam is good for the civilized US–or why we should allow our tax money to be used for this.
ntesdorf says
The good ideas just keep on coming from President Donald Trump.
SaveYourSoul says
+1
James Lincoln says
My thoughts…
In order for a college or university to receive federal funds:
The course offerings should be factual, evidence-based, fair and balanced.
Otherwise, they should not receive one penny.
abad says
Good. That is how it should be. Colleges and universities are supposed to teach students how to think (comparative religions course), not what to think.
Lotus says
This article is about federally funded courses, and what everyone has said is right.
Unfortunately, the Islam propagandists have a way around this. The Gulf states are flooding western universities with money to endow Islamic departments, Chairs and so on.
The academics who line up to fill these posts are only too happy to take Arab money. And of course they won’t bite the hand that feeds them.
As far as the Gulf sheiks are concerned, those academics are bought and paid for.
Norger says
Jay Smith, a history professor at UNC said the Education Department official who signed the letter “should stay in his lane and allow the experts to determine what constitutes a ‘full understanding’ of the Middle East.’”
Now that’s truly rich Professor Smith. Let me guess what your “lane” is Mr. Snotty Self-Appointed Middle East “Expert.” I would wager 100% of your Saudi bought and paid for salary that your “lane”is shilling for Islam. Am I getting warm?
J P Sundharam says
I wish Trump would stop inviting imams to come and pray at the events he attends.
Brian Hoff says
The department of education is being run by far rightwinger nutjobs.
gravenimage says
As if. Most departments of education are hotbeds of leftist nonsense.
Note also that “Brian Hoff”–really, “DefenderofIslam”–considers anyone who doesn’t want Islam to take over here to be “far rightwinger nutjobs”.
James Lincoln says
Assume that anything that Brian Hoff posts is being written by an Islamic fundamentalist…
gravenimage says
True, James. He has said that when Muslims reach sufficient numbers her they will destroy the Constitution and impose barbaric Shari’ah law on us.
underbed cat says
If Trump knew “what” they were praying they would be gone yesterday. No university should submit to Islam or accept money, that is intended for acceptance…to bred Islam, then you are stuck in the mud to not do your own investigation of course why would you, to be curious or give any credence to Islamophobes or experts…I think most libraries have a Quran, it may be the university has a Quran in the library, what you need to know is the end of the Quran was replaced by the beginning. Step one to go from deceived and clueless to getting the evidence.
James Lincoln says
underbedcat,
Good point.
Pres. Trump should be given translations of all prayers said by imams at any events where he was present…
smoris says
That’s why it matters that we elected a dummy.
gravenimage says
Trump has been savvier about Islam than any president in the modern era.
Mike says
Yes . Long over due !
John McKenna says
You have a regime that is financially in trouble. That is still feeling the effects of a couple of natural disasters. That is trying to suppress political dissent. That it is now trying to deflect and gain favour by playing the patriotic card is hardly surprising. To do this of course you need to confront your traditional enemies and turn yourself into the victim. That this despotic regime also adheres to the strand of Islam that sees the return of the ‘Mahdi’ as bringing in global Islamic domination.. That some in the regime want to fetch about the global disorder apparently heralding in the return of their redeemer. Then you see the recipe for the disaster much if the West refuses to acknowledge.
Angemon says
“Harumph! Harumph, I say! How dare you, filthy peons, raise your voice against me? Just sign the checks and let me do as I please!”
gravenimage says
Yep.
infidel says
(Mis) Using the resources of the hard earned resources of the infidel parasitically for the purposes of metastasis of this cancer is another hallmark of this pestilence… This in itself is another Islamic TRUISM from the annals of the infidel
Ginger says
why would any free country even consider taking ‘blood’ money from any arab country to further their injustices of thought on our country? stop this idiocy; we do not need them for anything. they need us. WE DO NOT NEED THEM
gravenimage says
Yes–that is insane.
E T says
Education City—US Universities
Texas A&M, Virginia Commonwealth, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, NorthWestern and Georgetown, the Qatar Foundation covers expenses for these institutions. The foundation has invested over 400 million dollars.
Walter Sieruk says
We all may be sure that such Middle East studies program run by the University of North Carolina and Duke University may truthfully be called the “The indoctrination program for Islam” One of the many falsehoods that those Islamic propaganda “teachers” is that the,god ,Allah, of Islam is the same God ad the God of the Bible.
How intellectually dishonest and even unconscionable to tell the students on such course that blatant lie.
For the God of the Bible is not really Allah the god of Islam. To explain, through the passing of time it has become widely accepted that the word “Allah” is just the Arabic word for God. This started when truth compromising Bible “translators” substituted the word Allah where the word God should have had been uses in the Arabic translation of the Bible. Furthermore, in the glossary in the book ASSASSINS! By Dr. Haha Lung it defines Allah as the “Pre-Islamic Lunar god : the god of Islam. “ Likewise, in the book entitled INSIDE ISLAM by a former Muslim who is now a Christian, Reza F. Safa on pages 22, 23 it reads “In pre-Islamic times both Allah –worship and Baal-worship involved the worship of the sun, the moon and the stars which h defines them as astral religions. [Which are condemned in the Bible, Second Kings 23:5] The crescent moon, which was the symbol of moon worship, is also the symbol of Islam.” In conclusion the Islamic god, Allah, is not the God of the Bible.
The words in brackets are my own. In addition other some other books that expose this little known truths are WHO IS THIS ALLAH ? by G..J.O.. Moshay also UNVEILING ISLAM by Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner and THE ISLAMIC INVASION by Robert Morey . There is also PHILISTINE by Ramon Bennett and ANSWERING JIHAD by Mabeel Qureshi