Joseph Massad denied tenure at Columbia University

By Ethel C. Fenig

Let the cries of the evil of the powerful, destructive Jewish/Israel lobby and the whining of the loss of academic freedom begin.

According to rumors from those described as well placed

Joseph Massad, an associate professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University's Department of Middle East And Asian Languages and Cultures, has been denied tenure.

One of the highlights of his scholarship is a study that reviewer

Jamie Kirchick has written about his book Desiring Arabs, a study, such as it is, of the position of gays in the Arab orbit and -- if you can believe it -- whether there actually are gays in the Arab world.

This small tentative corrective action still won't reverse my decision to never, ever contribute to this institution but maybe it is a sign that Columbia is beginning to realize academic freedom does mean well...academics.

This small, tentative action does not correct last week's academically suspect decision at Columbia's affiliated Barnard College to grant tenure to archeologist Nadia Abu El-Haj who contends, against all evidence, that there is no evidence of an

ancient Jewish presence to help build the case for a Jewish state. In their quest, she wrote, they sometimes used bulldozers, destroying the remains of Arab and other cultures.

And I still won't reverse my decision to never, ever to contribute to this institution but maybe this is a sign that Columbia is beginning to realize academic freedom does mean well...academics.

hat tip: Richard Baehr