Academics and the Government in the New American Century: An Interview with Rashid Khalidi

While this article was going to press, versions of David Horowitz’s Academic Bill of Rights were introduced in thirteen state legislatures and the U.S.Congress. The issue of academic freedom at Columbia University made national headlines and caught the attention of lawmakers, with most New York papers (including the New York Times) and local lawmakers siding with the pro-Zionist critics of a Middle East studies professor who, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, was accused of anti-Semitism and intimidation of students in the classroom. Meanwhile, Rashid Khalidi was summarily dismissed from the New York City Department of Education’s K–12 teaching development program, without any evidence of formal complaints against him and without any consultation with him or with Columbia University. For more information on these developments, see the special issue of the Nation on academic freedom, “Silencing Speech on Campus,” April 4, 2005.