The opportunity to explore truths is a cherished value in America's universities if one ignores the political conformity of those who guide the learning process. Students deserve better in an age of post-Cold War global uncertainty and especially now, in a time of war.
The president has repeatedly stated that the United States and our allies in the war against terrorism have no quarrel with Islam. And it would be foolish to prejudge, as many Muslims continuously express support for our efforts (most notably Albanians, Bosnians, Iraqi dissidents and the young Iranians who heroically march against the mullahs).
Even so, several uncomfortable questions escape the skeptical, comprehensive eye higher educators should bestow on the relatively unknown and very timely subject of Islam.
Do the hate-filled calls to action and religious rhetoric heard in mosques around the world every Friday represent a legitimate view of the holy texts? And don't take my word on this -- visit http://www.memri.org for direct translations.
How far outside a peaceful, sane mainstream are Osama bin Laden, Khomeini or a Saudi hijacker -- all wealthy, well-educated and claiming to be devout? How extensive are the radical (in particular Saudi-financed Wahhabist ideology) roots of influential groups like the Muslim Students Association, the American Muslim Council, the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Islamic Assembly of North America?
Last summer's assigned reading, Michael Sells' "Approaching the Qur'án," is typical of the sanitized and censored fare universities favor. As the goal was to educate, someone like the eminent Princeton historian Bernard Lewis would have been a far better choice. If there are extremist threats operating inside our shores, why paper over it or bury our head in the sand?
The recent arrest of Sami Al-Arian, once a professor of engineering at the University of South Florida, should shame his many apologists in academia. The overused charge of "McCarthyism" has been so cheapened that even a longtime representative of Palestinian Islamic Jihad can gain widespread sympathy. His 50-count indictment makes for riveting reading, leaving one to wonder how he got away with so much for so long.
The sorry state of Middle Eastern studies is a scandal. Not only did these "scholars" miss completely the brewing storm that exploded Sept.11, 2001, for over a decade they disparaged journalists such as Steve Emerson who reported on the rather open and frightening meetings of Muslim extremists in America. Martin Kramer's "Ivory Towers on Sand" is a devastating account of the bias and bad scholarship in this field of study. It may even lead to a sharp decrease of taxpayer support in some states.
A vulgar interpretation of world events from those supposed to provide clearheaded guidance also poisons productive discourse. Fred Donner, professor of early Islamic history at the University of Chicago, has strongly hinted the removal of Saddam Hussein from his absolute power is a "scheme" pushed by that group to which Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, all close military advisers to the president, belong.
The theories of "root cause" dominate universities, quick to blame the usual suspects for global injustices -- colonialism, poverty, injustice, exploitation. Still, incomplete premises lead to false answers. It should be asked if a large majority of Muslim counties are undemocratic and oppressive for lack of a secular government or even by nature of the faith itself.
Here seems to be the prevailing logic of academia -- the West is powerful, this power is inherently domineering, and therefore a proud people are justified to humble cultural and political polluters.
Israel has long been subject to this view. A pluralistic, prosperous and open society was built in less than half a century, yet her neighbors refuse a serious look inward at their own failures and insist on homicide instead of honest negotiation. Offending feelings must now take a back seat in the effort to counter imperialistic, murderous tyrannies.
Frivolous political correctness and moral equivalency deflect inexcusable violence and allow for a tolerance of dangerous extremism here at home. It is essential to ask tough questions and expose those actively supporting groups like the Wahhabis or Islamic Jihad. The only peace they advocate is the peace of the grave.