How Middle Eastern Studies Went Wrong

In September, the National Association of Scholars published a detailed report investigating the ways that Islamic and Middle East studies centers came into existence at American universities, the sources of their funding, and how they systematically encourage hostility toward Israel while diverting attention from the depredations of Arab nationalism and radical Islam. Neetu Arnold, the report’s author, discusses her findings with Martin Kramer and Winfield Myers, and the three debate to what extent these problems can be fixed through greater transparency about the sources of these centers’ funding, and how much they are endemic to a field that has been poisoned by academia’s most destructive trends. (Moderated by David Randall. Video, 91 minutes.)