"Portraying academic institutions,
particularly area studies programs, as hotbeds for anti-American sentiment, proponents of the bill proposed the creation of
an advisory board that has the final word on curricula taught at Title VI institutions, course materials assigned in class,
and even the faculty who are hired in institutions that accept Title VI funding."
--Yale Daily News
( Thousands of readers may recognize this ploy from Harry Potter
and the Order of the Phoenix - see pp. 306-308, 551, and 596.)
Yale Daily News
ACADEMIC FREEDOMS | BENITA SINGH
Published Thursday, November 6, 2003 New bill threatens intellectual freedom in area studies
... This past month, Congress passed
HR 3077, the "International Studies in Higher Education Act of 2003." The bill reauthorizes and extends Title VI programs
that ensure that public funds are not used to support or further racial discrimination at educational institutions. Since
1964, area studies programs and the study of underrepresented languages have been supported by Title VI funding.
Yet
the bill's high and just proceedings end there. HR 3077 was first proposed in June, at a Congressional hearing on "International
Programs in Higher Education and Questions about Bias." Portraying academic institutions, particularly area studies
programs, as hotbeds for anti-American sentiment, proponents of the bill proposed the creation of an advisory board that has
the final word on curricula taught at Title VI institutions, course materials assigned in class, and even the faculty who
are hired in institutions that accept Title VI funding. ...
Benita Singh is a senior in Branford College.
Her column appears on alternate Thursdays.
Osama University? Neoconservative critics
have long charged Middle Eastern studies departments with anti-American bias. Now they've enlisted Congress in their crusade.
Nov. 6, 2003 | On Oct. 21, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill
that could require university international studies departments to show more support for American foreign policy or risk their
federal funding. ...
Emboldened by its dominance of Washington, the right is trying to enlist government on its side in the campus culture
wars. "Since they are the mainstream in Washington think tanks and the right-wing corridors of Congress, they figure, 'Let's
translate that political capital to education,'" says Rashid Khalidi, who was recently appointed to the Edward Said Chair
of Arab studies at Columbia University.
It's not surprising that they started with Middle Eastern studies. There's a particular enmity between hard-line supporters
of Israel -- who, with the extraordinary ascension of neoconservatives in the Bush administration, now dominate the American
right -- and academics who specialize in studying the Arab and Muslim world. ...
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