9-27-2019 Student Response to Title VI Notice on UNC-Duke -Concerned Middle East and Islamic Studies Graduate Students

 https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/40034/Student-Response-to-Title-VI-Notice-on-UNC-Duke

 

On 25 September 2019, UNC issued an official response to the DoEd by providing a clinical assessment of its standing as compliant with Title VI. While we as graduate students at UNC endorse this statement, we would like to speak to the underlying premise of the notice—that UNC-Duke is violating the edicts of "national security" upon which Title VI is predicated. So, as students of Islamicate studies and Middle East studies, we address the main accusations, both stated and unstated, in this order. 

Accusation 1. Middle East programs privilege Muslims over analysis of Jews, Christians, Kurds, Baha'i, and other minority groups in the Middle East….Accusation 2. UNC-Duke does not place enough emphasis on Middle East/North African language courses….Accusation 3. UNC-Duke use Title VI funds for classes and events not relevant to Title VI….Accusation 4. University Middle East Studies programs are unfairly critical of Israel….

As graduate students involved in the Duke-UNC Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, [we].stand against all forms of discrimination—racial, religious, gender, sexuality, class, age, ability, and otherwise—in particular as a result of state vision and rhetoric. We will not support imperialism, jingoism, and military hegemony, and we do not support the idea that these are necessary for maintaining peace in any nation, including the US.

 

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

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