Brown University, Qatar, and the the Choice Program

Brown University is involved in yet another controversy. I am cross-posting an article appearing today in Legal Insurrection. The controversy is a result of a study by the Institute for the Study of Global Anti-Semitism and Policy (ISGAP).

Brown University is cutting off a program it has reportedly sponsored for 35 years in which history curricula are designed and provided for high school instruction and which, among other things, allegedly present a biased view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, presenting Israel as a “settler-oppressor and apartheid state,” etc. The Choices Program has been housed in Brown’s History Department since 2018 and provides history curricula to approximately one million high school students nationwide, according to the Brown Daily Herald (see below link). The university says it is cutting off the program due to funding and staffing issues, while denying that the program is biased and anti-Semitic. They also deny the charge of receiving funding from the government of Qatar, that pesky Middle East country that pretends to be our ally, but is solidly against Israel and supports Hamas in its war against Israel. Don’t forget that Qatar is the base for Al Jazeera, that phony news outlet that spreads its propaganda with the help of US-based journalists and sympathetic university professors. At question here is the role of the Qatar Foundation International. (QFI)

Brown, which has been involved in numerous complaints of anti-Semitism and indoctrination on its campus over the past several years, is denying that they have received money from the State of Qatar, only the Qatar Foundation International, which, Brown claims, has no connection to the government of Qatar. Here is how the campus newspaper, the Brown Daily Herald, is reporting the story.

On its website, QFI states that it is a member of the Qatar Foundation. According to ISGAP, the Emir of Qatar acts as the chair of the Qatar Foundation, which operates as a state-controlled entity. 

I also note that the article linked above from the Brown Daily Herald does not mention Qatar in the article itself, though there are links to the ISGAP study and the university’s denials. The principal theme of the article is the shock and disappointment of those involved in the Choice Program.

If the allegations made by ISGAP are true, this is disturbing. If a program sponsored by Brown (Choice Program) is designing and providing curricula to high schools around the nation that present a biased and/or distorted view of the Middle East conflict, and if that program is receiving funding and/or other assistance from an entity controlled by the Qatari government, that is all very troubling. It once again raises the question of foreign influence in our educational process and what our children are being taught. Universities have received millions of dollars from countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and China. Those donations are not given in the spirit of improving education in America. They are to influence what is being taught about the important issues they care about.  Georgetown University’s Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Christian and Muslim Understanding, for example, has been the recipient of funding from Saudi Arabia. Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia have donated millions to establish Middle East studies centers on many university campuses, which, in most cases, are nothing but propaganda arms for pan-Arab, anti-West, anti-Israel thought.

I am also troubled by the efforts of universities to influence the curricula of high schools, thanks to the efforts of leftist professors and course developers. I am reminded of the recent controversy in California when the University of California tried to dictate certain courses, like ethnic studies, which high school students had to complete in order to qualify for admission to a UC campus.

I hope that the Department of Education will look into the allegations regarding Brown-and other universities driven by leftist ideology and astronomical sums of money from dubious foreign sources, and which serve to indoctrinate our children. How much has Brown received from Qatar? Under the Higher Education Act, institutions must report donations from foreign sources in excess of $250,000. Has Brown exceeded that limit without reporting it? 

In the case of Brown, there is much for our government to investigate thanks to the ISGAP study.