Trump administration is trying to curb academic freedom to propagate its anti-Muslim agenda, claims ACLU
While the Donald Trump administration remains busy fighting a political war against the opponents over a whistle-blower complaint, it has now encountered a fresh challenge from the academic sector.
The Department of Education (DoE) recently asked the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies—a collaboration between Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—saying it would slash federal aides to the institute unless it made plans to remake its Middle East studies program to the department’s satisfaction. The consortium receives funding under Title VI of the Higher Education Act.
In July, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos flagged off an investigation at the behest of North Carolina’s Republican Representative George Holding who brought allegations that a recent consortium conference named ‘Conflict Over Gaza: People, Politics, and Possibilities’ was filled with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiments. A disappointed Holding wanted the four-year grant of $235,000 annually to the consortium to train American students to become global leaders, to be revoked. The grant was awarded to the consortium by the Office of Postsecondary Education.
The DoE also asked the consortium to moderate its portrayal of Islam’s “positive aspects” and stop “advancing ideological priorities”.
DoE wrote in a letter that the program featured a “considerable emphasis placed on the understanding the positive aspects of Islam” but didn’t care to project the same about other religions/beliefs that exist in the Middle East or those of the persecuted religious minorities.
Concerned by the move, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reached out to the DoE urging it to drop the probe, Al Jazeera reported. It said the department was trying to fit the curriculum into its own “ideological standards”.
Censorship at universities
ACLU’s senior legislative council Kate Ruane said on Friday, September 27, that the DoE’s action was nothing short of censorship and that it undermined academic freedom and has no factual basis.
In a letter addressed to DoE Secretary Betsy DeVos, the ACLU said the agency’s inquiry "raises concerns that the department is injecting the current presidential administration's long pattern of anti-Muslim bigotry and discrimination into the Title VI funding process." The DoE, however, is unfazed and told Al Jazeera that its investigation is valid under the federal laws.
In a strongly worded blog, the ACLU said the “ham-fisted attempt to wield funding authority over the consortium’s academic programming illustrates yet again the Trump administration’s deep-seated anti-Muslim bias”.
President Donald Trump has not held back his strong preference for Israel when it comes to the Middle East and even went to the extent of announcing the contested city of Jerusalem as its capital last year, leaving a serious diplomatic fallout. On the other hand, the Republican president has also taken a hardline stance on immigration vis-a-vis many Muslim countries, making evident his strong anti-Muslim fervors.