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According to Campus Watch, the organization "reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them." The organization further states, "it fully respects the freedom of speech of those it debates while insisting on its own freedom to comment on their words and deeds."<ref>[http://www.campus-watch.org/ CampusWatch.org]. Retrieved on [[2007-10-20]].</ref>
According to Campus Watch, the organization "reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them." The organization further states, "it fully respects the freedom of speech of those it debates while insisting on its own freedom to comment on their words and deeds."<ref>[http://www.campus-watch.org/ CampusWatch.org]. Retrieved on [[2007-10-20]].</ref>

In reviewing the organization's first five years, Pipes stated:<ref>
{{cite news
| last = Pipes
| first = Daniel
| title = Five Years of Campus Watch
| language = English
| publisher = The Jerusalem Post
| date = Sep 19, 2007
| url = http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=%20%201189411441668%20&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
| accessdate = 2007-11 -28 }} </ref>
:Critiquing professors is more revolutionary than it may sound, for academics have long been spared public criticism ...&nbsp;. Who would judge them? Students suppress their views to protect their careers; peers are reluctant to criticize each other, lest they in turn suffer attacks; and laymen lack the competence to judge arcane scholarship. ... [W]e consider the work of these specialists too important to be left uncritiqued.


== History ==
== History ==
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In March 2006, political scientists [[John Mearsheimer]] and [[Stephen Walt]] wrote that Campus Watch was founded by "two passionately pro-Israel [[neoconservatives]]" with the intention of "encourag[ing] students to report comments or behavior that might be considered hostile to Israel" and that it was a "transparent attempt to blacklist and intimidate scholars."<ref>[[John Mearsheimer|Mesarsheimer, John]]; [[Stephen Walt|Walt, Stephen]] (August 27, 2007). ''[[The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy]]''. [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]]. ISBN 0374177724.
In March 2006, political scientists [[John Mearsheimer]] and [[Stephen Walt]] wrote that Campus Watch was founded by "two passionately pro-Israel [[neoconservatives]]" with the intention of "encourag[ing] students to report comments or behavior that might be considered hostile to Israel" and that it was a "transparent attempt to blacklist and intimidate scholars."<ref>[[John Mearsheimer|Mesarsheimer, John]]; [[Stephen Walt|Walt, Stephen]] (August 27, 2007). ''[[The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy]]''. [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]]. ISBN 0374177724.
</ref> Pipes states that this "account is inaccurate in several ways" and their latest version "still has lots of basics wrong".<ref>Daniel Pipes, [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=F07962E5-5424-4EB0-BB9E-087888B5EBE4 Is Campus Watch Part of a Conspiracy?], ''[[FrontPage Magazine]]'', [[May 12]], [[2006]]</ref>
</ref>


== See also ==
== See also ==

Revision as of 15:34, 28 November 2007

Campus Watch is a project of the Middle East Forum, an American pro-Israel neoconservative think tank. It was founded by Daniel Pipes and the current director of Campus Watch is Winfield Myers. The organization is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. and was founded in 2002.[1]

According to Campus Watch, the organization "reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them." The organization further states, "it fully respects the freedom of speech of those it debates while insisting on its own freedom to comment on their words and deeds."[2]

In reviewing the organization's first five years, Pipes stated:[3]

Critiquing professors is more revolutionary than it may sound, for academics have long been spared public criticism ... . Who would judge them? Students suppress their views to protect their careers; peers are reluctant to criticize each other, lest they in turn suffer attacks; and laymen lack the competence to judge arcane scholarship. ... [W]e consider the work of these specialists too important to be left uncritiqued.

History

In 2002, the Middle East Forum initiated Campus Watch and identified what they believe to be five problems in the teaching of Middle Eastern studies at American universities, "analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students."[4]

Initially, Campus Watch encouraged students to submit reports regarding teachers, books, and curricula, which led some professors to accuse Campus Watch of "McCarthyesque" intimidation; in protest, more than 100 other academics asked to be listed too.[5] Subsequently, Campus Watch removed the list from its website.[6][7]

Criticism

Opponents of Campus Watch describe it as an attempt to stifle any criticism of Israel in American academia.[1][8][9][10]

Rashid Khalidi, a Director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University and a target of Campus Watch, wrote:

"This noxious campaign is intended to silence such perfectly legitimate criticism, by tarring it with the brush of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism, truly loathsome charges. They reveal the lengths that these people apparently feel impelled to go to in order to silence a true debate on campus."[11]

Joel Beinin, then Professor of Middle East History at Stanford University, now Director of the Middle East Studies Department at the American University in Cairo, said:[12]

"Campus Watch [..] compiles dossiers on professors and universities that do not meet its standard of uncritical support for the policies of George Bush and Ariel Sharon. Among other things, this may be Pipes' way of taking revenge on the scholarly community after failing in his own pursuit of an academic career in Middle East studies.[....] The efforts to stifle public debate about U.S. Middle East policy and criticism of Israel are being promoted by a network of neo-conservative true believers with strong links to the Israeli far right. They are enthusiastic supporters of the Bush administration's hands off approach to Ariel Sharon's suppression of the Palestinian uprising. And they are aggressive proponents of a preemptive U.S. strike against Iraq."

In March 2006, political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt wrote that Campus Watch was founded by "two passionately pro-Israel neoconservatives" with the intention of "encourag[ing] students to report comments or behavior that might be considered hostile to Israel" and that it was a "transparent attempt to blacklist and intimidate scholars."[13] Pipes states that this "account is inaccurate in several ways" and their latest version "still has lots of basics wrong".[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b McNeil, Kristine. "The War on Academic Freedom". The Nation (2002-11-11). Retrieved on 2007-10-21.
  2. ^ CampusWatch.org. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
  3. ^ Pipes, Daniel (Sep 19, 2007). "Five Years of Campus Watch". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2007-11 -28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ Qtd. from "Mission Statement," in "About Campus Watch", Campus Watch (campus-watch.org), n.d., accessed February 17, 2007.
  5. ^ Tanya Schevitz, "Professors Want Own Names Put on Mideast Blacklist", San Francisco Chronicle September 28, 2002, accessed February 17,2007.
  6. ^ Tanya Schevitz, "'Dossiers' Dropped from Web Blacklist", San Francisco Chronicle October 3, 2002, accessed February 17, 2007.
  7. ^ Hussam Ayloush, "Column a Slur on Muslim Community", Orange County Register December 1, 2002, accessed February 17, 2007.
  8. ^ Green, David. "Zionism vs. Intellectual Freedoms on American College Campuses". ZNet (2005-05-15). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
  9. ^ Roy, Sara. "Short Cuts". London Review of Books (2005-04-01). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
  10. ^ Strindberg, Anders. "The New Commissars". The American Conservative (2004-02-02). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
  11. ^ "ADC Denounces New Efforts to Chill Academic Freedom" (Press Release). Arab Americans Anti-Discrimination Committee (2002-09-26). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
  12. ^ [1]
  13. ^ Mesarsheimer, John; Walt, Stephen (August 27, 2007). The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0374177724.
  14. ^ Daniel Pipes, Is Campus Watch Part of a Conspiracy?, FrontPage Magazine, May 12, 2006
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