An Alternative to Radicalized Middle East Studies

The Wall Street Journal calls our new program "a new hope" for the field

It will not be news to most of our readers that most Middle East studies departments in higher education long ago succumbed to the whole “de-colonial” ideology when they aren’t outright anti-semitic. Most of them should simply be shut down, and their radical anti-Israel/anti-American faculty summarily dismissed.

So it is with considerable pride and pleasure that it is possible to announce an alternative in the field. My university’s public policy school, where I am currently embedded on the faculty, announced this week a brand new graduate program in Middle Eastern studies in partnership with the venerable Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). It’s been in the works for a while now, but while we awaited all the accreditation hurdles to get cleared we didn’t want to talk about it much.

I’ll let the Wall Street Journal’s editorial explain the significance of this:

It would be nice to have academic departments of Middle Eastern studies to turn to for understanding these days, but too many have traded scholarship for anti-Israel politics. . .

There’s plenty to complain about in academia, but we prefer efforts to build alternatives and have highlighted several across the country. The latest comes from the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy, which is creating a new master’s program in Middle East Policy Studies with the help of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The two-year program, to be announced Wednesday and opened in Washington in the fall, is designed to train future policy makers. . .

The Pepperdine program plans to launch tuition-free and says it will rely solely on donations from U.S. citizens and foundations. That’s as radical as anything at Harvard, but much healthier for the country.

So three cheers for us.

And a reminder, for anyone who may have missed it before, this overview of the whole SPP program: